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#for the non aviation people- this is very common and has been a thing since the wright brothers
aviatrix-ash · 2 years
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Finally caught this little guy hiding in the tall grass on my ride home. I assume it's a kit Vans RV this person is building 👀
Wish em the best of luck on their plane build! I hear they're much more complex than the little old school tube & fabric N3 Pup I'm rebuilding.
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safert0fu · 3 years
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character summary - yuun (ff14 edition)
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Alias/Nicknames:
Yuunie (Leonora)
Aster (Kio, Seere)
“kill-stealing bastard” (Aysu) 
"Little Star” or “Starling” (Veena)
Valdis’a (mother)
Gender: Male
Age: 1500-2000+ years old (claims he is 33 years old)
Zodiac: Scorpio (November 6th)
Abilities/Talents: uhhhhhh... for ease, only his innate abilities are listed.
time magicks imbued into his body, resulting in... ↪ immortality thru slowed aging. his aging has been slowing exponentially since his youth, to the point where he has practically stopped ↪ immortality thru inability to die** Yuun will recover from virtually any wound, his body ‘rewinding’ to the point before severe injury. he can only die permanently via being consumed and his essence absorbed.
Echo ↪ clairvoyance. usually manifests as limited ability to predict what actions opponents will take. past sight is more clear, and people having extreme emotion near him triggers it semi-frequently.
Aether manipulation ; though he is formally educated with regards to white magic, he has an innate talent for the manipulation of aether in general and thus most magic comes to him naturally.
Absurd super strength and superhuman resilience/endurance
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Religion: Agnostic - displays neither reverence nor aversion to religious/spiritual beliefs.
Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath
Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience
Languages: the tongue of ancient Amdapor (5th astral era Common?); Dravanian; passable conversational Doman & Hingan (???) - enough to do business in the Far East regions. all other languages are understood thru the lens & earpiece of the Echo and he does not truly know them.
Family: Nymeia (his designer and mother). by extension, the Twelve are also his family, if indeed they are wandering the world somewhere as well. 
Friends: Baltusar, Fray & Leonora are his dearest friends. He considers them his family. Those they consider dear are important to him, even if he isn’t close to them personally.
Sexuality: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other *see note
Relationship Status: single / partnered / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating yet / it’s complicated**
Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent ***see note
*though he does not label himself, the closest thing would be a biromantic grey-asexual, with men appealing more to him. he is also not sexually attracted to women, but he has fallen in love with women before.
**dependent on which ‘verse he is currently in. in 2 he is with (different) dedicated partners.
***his libido is very low ordinarily, though he is not sex-repulsed. he has had moments of high libido. 
Build: slender / average / athletic / muscular / curvy / other
Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black (tips)
Eyes: brown / blue (right) / gray / green / black / other - red (left)
Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / dark / other
Height: 6’3
Scars: Quite the collection but the two most distinct ones are
a horizontal scar over the bridge of his nose
a starburst shaped pair of scars (one over his heart, the other mirroring it on his back)
dogs or cats || birds or bugs || snakes or spiders || coffee or tea || ice cream or cake || fruits or vegetables || sandwich or soup || magic or melee || sword dagger or bow || summer or winter || spring or autumn || past or future
A few songs that remind you of them:
Love Bites - Aviators
Want - Taemin
Irregular God - Tower of God OST
BEAST II (Remix/Mashup) - Fate/Grand Order OST
Tagged by: @biff-adventurer​ thru my personal blog @safertofu​ ♥
Tagging: anyone who wants to do this
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dancerbike68 · 3 years
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Uae Tours
The UAE is made up of seven Emirates on the japanese seaboard of the Arabian Peninsula and is a vacation spot which is able to surprise you. It is very secure and fairly straightforward to access compared to most of the surrounding countries. The nation is principally a desert, however cultivation and enterprise have greened an excellent portion of it. Many breaks within the large cities will permit you to benefit from the various sights that might be offered to you, between quad, nautical actions or excursions by dromadaire. A safari into the desert is a should while in Dubai, and for essentially the most unforgettable expertise take a tour that contains a BBQ feast. They’re an excellent alternative for those not eager on a wild experience through the desert. A camel experience is a completely relaxing method to enjoy the sweeping surroundings, attempt some conventional barbeque, and listen to desert tales advised by tour UAE tourist information. With heady Arabian music taking half in by the bonfire as you dine on a scrumptious meal, you’ll be able to witness the true fantastic thing about the Arabian night time sky. For each the desert safari and the camel journey UAE tours, there’s an option to spend a night in the desert in a conventional Bedouin-style camp, taking in the starlit sky very like a Bedouin tribe would. From visits to a quantity of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and cultural interactions with locals to and exciting wildlife encounters, this fascinating tour of India won\'t disappoint. Sufouh Gardens Map A centre for regional and worldwide commerce since the early 20th century, Dubai's financial system relies on revenues from trade, tourism, aviation, actual estate, and financial services. Guests and motor-enthusiasts can drive a number of the extremely well-liked racecars similar to the McLaren Sprint and the Ferrari GT at the Kartdrome for real-life racing experience. The instructional park, which seeks to draw Muslims and non-Muslims alike, options 12 gardens, a “Cave of Miracles,” and a break up lake symbolizing Moses parting the Red Sea. DUBAI - A new park that makes use of gardens and landscaping to inform tales from Islam’s sacred text has opened in Dubai, providing locals and vacationers a day trip with a non secular twist. [newline]More mountainous than emirates fronting the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula, Fajairah is residence to a number of wadies. This time period refers back to the valley stream mattress or the precise stream that flows within the wet season. Wadi Zikt, in Dhadnah, is lower than five miles from the coast and hosts considered one of Fujairah’s largest dams. Located some 25 miles north of Fujairah, Wadi Al Wurayah is home to a variety of waterfalls and a few compelling surroundings. The population has expanded quickly as nicely, rising from about 50,000 individuals in 1975 to greater than 630,000 in 2012. The expansion of city areas—gray within the images—has primarily proceeded westward from the town middle because of an abundance of open space and the presence of transportation, water, and power infrastructure. Dibba Beach is on the northern finish of the emirate and presents clear, clear waters perfect for diving and snorkeling. Swim simply offshore or visit the nearby coral reefs on a snorkeling/diving tour with one of the local distributors at Dibba Marina. Another in style swimming space is Sandy Beach, a number of miles south of Dibba Beach. The Sandy Beach Diving Centre (sandybm.com) provides each hotel lodging and dive/snorkeling trips. About 25 yards from the seashore is Snoopy Island, named after the famed beagle of "Charlie Brown" fame. Yas Island also is residence to a Formula 1 race monitor that hosts the annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Dubai is making ready to welcome a World's Fair in 2020. Another great approach to attain the park is by utilizing a mix of public transport within the form of Dubai Metro prepare and taxi. The closest metro stations are World Trade Center and Al Jafiliya stations . After alighting at the metro station, you can take a taxi to the doorway of the park for a minimum fare. Resort Amenities like Luxurious bathrobes, Dry Cleaning and Gift store make your stay snug. These high Discovery Gardens resorts like Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa have every little thing that a tourist or a business traveler would want from a luxury lodge property close to well-liked Landmark places. This project aims to counterpoint its guests via thrilling options that could be found all through the park and to provide them with a secure group house where households can discover, chill out and spend time collectively. Israels New Peace Cope With The United Arab Emirates Transforms The Middle East Our writers, photographers and contributors are actual people who let you know the tales of their personal travels and experiences. Some of the international locations we currently cowl are Burma, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Break away from the continuous barrage of neon lights, excessive velocity trains, 1000's of eateries, and infinite rows of skyscrapers to visit a little bit of ancient Japan. Erawan Shrine in Bangkok is dedicated to Lord Brahma, situated by the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel. The temple is a well-liked worship attraction in the metropolis and one of the well-known temple of Brahma in the world. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A unique forum initiated by the Bahá’ís of the United Arab Emirates is permitting spiritual leaders of the nation to go beyond building mutual respect to fostering coexistence and unity of imaginative and prescient on questions of common concern. A good friend of mine who travelled round India advised me about this Hindu temple, and since then it has been on my “list” . It’s constructed within the typical Dravidian architectural type and has this unbelievably coloured and ornate exterior coated with depictions of gods, demons, warriors and royalty. Kapaleeshwar honors the god Shiva, and has shrines dedicated to a lot of different deities in the South Indian pantheon. [newline]Amid rising sectarian tensions and non secular animosities within the area, Abu Dhabi has unveiled plans for an expansive interfaith complex that bundles collectively a mosque, a church, and a synagogue. The different two temples include the Orlando Florida Temple and the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple. For reasons of their very own concern, Emirati leaders would help normalize the Jewish presence on the mount, and not solely tolerate, but in addition take part in Jewish prayer. This elevation involved not solely constructing both the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine, however in accordance with the Aqsa interpretative significance as the “furthest mosque,” one on par with the mosque in Mecca. Another spiritual establishment is the Muslim Council of Elders , which was established in July 2014 and is predicated in Abu Dhabi. Since its founding, the FPPMS has been lively in spreading its message and expanding its actions beyond the UAE. It holds an annual convention, which is normally attended by tons of of non secular scholars from around the Arab and Muslim worlds, particularly by those that are consistent with the UAE’s home and regional insurance policies. The FPPMS is officially sponsored3 by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Last Word Guide To Iceland's Greatest Pools And Scorching Springs On path to the ‘Garden City,’ see the rocky Hajar Mountains and find out about Al Ain’s history from an professional information. Visit the Al Ain National Museum to uncover the city’s Bedouin heritage, and explore the Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum and bustling camel market. Admire the views of the palm-filled metropolis from Jebel Hafeet mountain, dip your toes into the mountain's sizzling springs, and earlier than returning to Abu Dhabi, enjoy a tasty buffet lunch. The onsens are used a public baths and are large enough for many people. In Japan you scrub down outdoors the tub to maintain the water clean. There are sometimes 牙橋 and some have features like waterfalls or cold tubs. The scorching spring pool is neat to see due to its size and it sits proper next to the mountains. The value of discount might differ based on fare kind availability, seasonality, referral source and destinations. This $10 off sale applies to our transaction service charges only. All fares displayed above are after the 10 USD prompt low cost utilized. Maximum discount amount is the amount of the transaction service charges for that transaction or 10 USD, whichever is less. You can attain Asakusa in one stop on the subway line, and you'll stroll to all of Ueno’s highlights like Ameyayokocho buying district, and Ueno park’s shrines and museums. Rooms available at Mimaru Tokyo Shinjuku West include Japanese-style and Western-style apartments, with a small kitchen and attached toilet. This Mystays resort is in Higashi-Ikebukuro (the neighborhood where my sharehouse in Tokyo was!). It’s shut the Sunshine 60 mega-mall with its Pokemon heart, aquarium, and remark deck. A buying district in Ikebukuro is home to a huge Sega sport center, Tokyu Hands retailer, and tons of animal cafes too.Check dates and prices here. Although it has an above-average price tag for a hostel mattress, you'll keep in a private “smart pod”. Many functions of the pod can be managed through iPod given at the front desk, similar to reclining your bed in to “sofa mode”! Museums & Galleries In Dubai Aiming to introduce international up to date art to local audiences in the UAE, the Maraya Art Centre organizes domestic exhibitions featuring rising artists from the region. It also has a sculpture park and a program of lessons, workshops, screenings, and occasions. Maraya can additionally be residence to the Barjeel Foundation, a prominent royal collection of latest art. A FUNN participant creates a charcoal drawing during an art workshop devoted to children/Courtesy of FUNN.The Maraya Art Centre is a non-profit artwork house and cultural platform positioned in Al Qasba. Abu Dhabi's other cultural sites, together with Cultural Foundation and Qasr Al Hosn, also opened on June 24. There might be no tours, however digital guides shall be available to obtain on smartphones. The museum at present operates at forty per cent capacity, and guests must book slots in advance to be assured entry. It includes timings for galleries, as well as the measures being taken towards defending guests against Covid-19. Housed in building every bit as spectacular as its assortment, the museum is located on the Corniche, simply north of the Heart of Sharjah district. Astrolabes, manuscripts, ceramics and cash all vie in your consideration however don’t miss the gold-embroidered curtain for the door of the Holy Ka’ba and the mosaic inside the central dome detailing the zodiac constellations. The National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah served as the residence of the ruling Quwasim family till 1964, when the late Ruler, H.H. Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, moved to a modern constructing in Mamoura. It later grew to become a police headquarters and a jail, earlier than being converted into the National Museum in 1987. Reflecting its eventful historical past, the National Museum has been constantly enlarged over time, displaying a wealthy diversity of traditional architecture. Today, the ‘Late Fort’ exhibits historical, ethnographical, and archaeological material referring to the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and provides an attention-grabbing insight into the history and traditions of this area. Sixty Five Attractions In United Arab Emirates That Match This Travel Theme > Outdoor Adventures It’s also home to plenty of must-try out of doors actions in dubai to check out. If you want an adrenaline-pumping sort of water activity, then the Flyboard experience is the best for you. It is a 20-minute Flyboard ride that is water-powered and may get as excessive as 10 meters above the waters, providing you with a spectacular view of Dubai’s skyline. During the exercise, you will have an experienced instructor to guide you through the process, the life vest, and different security gear. He/She is also there to show you to maneuver and tips to manoeuvre the ride that you'll greatly get pleasure from. The exercise is safe and enjoyable and perfect for novices and skilled Flyboarders. There are plenty of water actions to do in Dubai, and considered one of them is driving a personal velocity boat. Rumble throughout the sands, roar over rolling dunes, and cease for photographs of the attractive desert on route. After your ride, relax and refuel in a cool Bedouin-style tent over recent Arabic espresso, tea and dates. Yes, responsible as a defendant, this isn't an environmentally friendly journey activity, so ideally Sustainability Tribe shouldn’t recommend it. But I experienced a tandem fall while looking for “experiences about materials” and ticking my bucket list merchandise. This was my first huge merchandise on the record and I’m glad I might tick off a quantity of more from watching Northern Lights in Iceland. However, skydiving was by far essentially the most adventurous expertise in my life. Some folks got here not to ski butto journey the chairlift and benefit from the other winter activities.I seen a few of the locals taking the tour on the lift. Some males wore their lengthy white tob garbs beneath their ski jackets with their white keffiyah headscarves. Some of the women wore their ski coats over their long black abaya robes and their headscarves and a few faces veiled. As we flew over Dubai, positioned along the Persian Gulf coast, you'll be able to see thedesert haze engulf the citythat stretched to the seaside. Even the tallest tower on the earth, theBurj Khalifa, couldn't hide from the desert parts. Best Time To Visit Dubai Going on-line has additionally helped the pageant reach a worldwide audience. "We're seeing international viewers tune in to the festival, which is wonderful," Bolooki says. Of course, that is the case with any pageant being held this early in 2021. As the pandemic continues, event organisers all around the world have had to adapt to ever-changing rules to ensure customer safety. While there has been the usual buzz surrounding the annual literary occasion, the influence of the Covid-19 pandemicis noticeable. There are not any teams of individuals unfurling leaflets, trying to ascertain how and when to get to their next session. The UAE’s independence day is properly known with a raft of citywide events, including parades, dhow races and performances of conventional music and dance. Taste of Dubai Three days in mid-March wtasteofdubaifestival.com. ULTRA Abu Dhabi 2020 is proudly introduced by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi. The festival is held annually under the patronage of patronage of Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum and as a part of the Emirates Literature Foundation established in 2013. With the program held across three weekends, one highlight had to do with newly released children’s books and the discharge of Young Voices of Arabia, which honors the primary regional winners of the Voices of Future Generations program. With some occasions held outside for security and all physical applications restricted in crowd measurement, the Emirates Airline Festival maintained a robust digital element, as well. All of our events adhere to the UAE pointers for Covid Safety, including a maximum of seven people per table, a clear hole of three meters between each, clear marking and signage, and physical distancing to avoid crowding. Masks and social distancing are also a should whilst moving around. The Al Gaffal Race commemorates historic checkpoints of pearl divers returning residence after lengthy sea excursions. The race begins with ships touring 23 nautical miles east to Moon Island from Sur Bu Na’air. For This Reason Dubai Is A Haven For Those In Want Of Retail Remedy The value will depend upon the store and the product, although in plenty of cases it's up to 70% financial savings in comparison with Europe. This street is amongst the essential stops inside any shopping tour of the city. Even if you do not plan to buy anything, simply to see all the merchandise and stroll among its small stands is a worthwhile experience. Other articles very typical of the Arab Emirates are lamps, made with stained glass, ceramic and steel figures, and shishas, the popular pipe through which many Arabs smoke fruity tobacco. On Lower floor stage between the meals court docket and Five Guys, there are a couple of stores (Jaber Gallery + 2 others). On the method in which from Five Guys in direction of Waitrose, there are tons of kiosks and shops with extra items. The worth of all this beautiful little thing is really cheap, which is very nice in phrases of a gift not essentially status, but made with a soul. Gold soukHere you'll be able to select exclusive finishes large merchandise with giant gemstone inserts. Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, as well as garnet, agate, cubic zirconia, pearls. For a special present, it is proposed to make a ornament based on your sketch. Dubai's luxurious resorts pamper visitors with tony rooms, refined worldwide food and extra-special amenities. The world’s largest mall is way over only a retail paradise. Exhausting Rock Cafe Dubai In compliance with recommendations from local health officers, Hard Rock Cafe Dubai has reopened its restaurant and Rock Shop. We are persevering with to take precautions to ensure the security of our guests and staff members and have applied enhanced cleaning processes and social distancing measures. [newline]Hard Rock Cafe Dubai's world famous menu features all kinds of tasty options together with our mouthwatering Legendary® burger, refreshing salads, and house made entrees infused with the non-stop power of Dubai. There's beef, lamb, and different meat too, but if you do not wish to make a decision, go for the $190 signature tasting menu. Timber, brass, and marble shipped from South Africa create a shiny and breezy ambience in this spot at the shiny Al Wasl mall. Beige partitions and rustic-chic interiors lend an enthralling and welcoming vibe that attracts households on weekend afternoons. Actually three venues — a restaurant, bar and out of doors lounge opening onto the Arabian Sea — Buddha-Bar is famed for its unique food, eclectic ambiance and ambient music from an on-site DJ. The luxurious restaurant serves a fusion of sushi, Chinese and Thai meals, with a bar that plays host to Dubai’s trendy crowds. Between them, one of the best restaurants in Dubai serve nearly each national cuisine from around the globe, together with many specializing in Dubai’s personal Arabic delights. The meals was really fanatic I thought, my favorite dish for lunch being their machboos – a dish of rice and in this case chicken with spices. This Indian chain may not have the most luxe ambiance , nevertheless it does have hearty and reasonably priced biryanis, curries, tandoori grills, and wraps. United Arab Emirates Whey Protein Enterprise And Funding Opportunities 2014 Sign Up NowGet this delivered to your inbox, and extra information about our merchandise and companies. With our analysis partners within the United Arab Emirates , Edison has full-time research workers and supervisors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, enabling us to conduct market and survey research throughout the nation. The nation has one of many highest vitality consumptions per capita on the earth. The Government targets a share of 44% of renewables in the vitality combine in 2050. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC , ACWA Power , Abu Dhabi Transmission & Despatch Company , Dubai Electricity and Water Authority , Honeywell International Inc are the major firms operating in United Arab Emirates Power Market. UAE has confirmed that it holds a few of the finest solar sources on the planet while supporting financial and regulatory policies which have helped its clear power program to excel. Mechanisms for imposing property rights are predictable and truthful, although every emirate establishes its personal procedures for land possession. The judiciary just isn't unbiased, and court rulings are subject to evaluate by the political management, but the rule of regulation is generally nicely maintained. The UAE is one of the least corrupt countries within the region, however nepotism and corruption persist, and the federal government typically lacks transparency. The economy of the United Arab Emirates has maintained its standing among the many ranks of the largely free this yr. Additional financial freedom is important, nonetheless, if the federal government is to succeed in diversifying away from reliance on the hydrocarbons sector. Substantial reductions in subsidy funds would probably increase Index indicator scores for government spending and financial freedom. The United States applied an “anti-boycott” legislation in 1977 to encourage non-compliance with the Arab League boycott of Israel. Many documents which would possibly be executed inside the UAE should be notarized by a public notary. Public notaries in the UAE are officers of the courts of first instance and are supervised by the court in that Emirate. Only Arabic paperwork may be notarized, but dual-language copies containing English are widespread. The requirements of public notaries usually are not constant, usually necessitating repeated visits to the general public notary office. Consequently, firms should contemplate confirming documents through counsel for any transaction where time is of the essence. Find the most relevant details on the United Arab Emirates relating to market information, statistics and market studies. Each emirate has its own government-owned firm; overseas actors participate by way of public-private partnerships. Some of the key gamers are Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC , ACWA Power, Abu Dhabi Transmission & Despatch Company , and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority , Honeywell International Inc. Abu Dhabi’s rising population and rising economy have been the key elements driving the increase in peak demand, which grew by a median of 8.53% per yr between 2007 and 2018. United Arab Emirates Travel Guide You may must take a COVID-19 PCR test before you depart or one other particular kind of COVID-19 take a look at specified by your vacation spot. We're at all times looking for new methods to inspire your subsequent holiday - fascinating destinations, unique resorts and all the little things that come collectively to create unforgettable moments for you and your loved ones. There isn’t a global restaurant model without a presence in the UAE, but the best food is local and snacking round the historic districts is healthier than generic burgers any day. Get to know the desert and life beyond town on guided camel tours or treks. The four artifical islands of Al Marjan have some of RAK’s best family resort resorts designed around seashores and luxurious gardens but not far from the city centre. Ras Al-Khaimah is less than an hour’s drive north of Dubai, shares a border with Oman and is a favorite vacation for UAE residents. Traditional tradition is extensively known here like nowhere else within the nation so if you’ve promised everyone an evening under the stars at a Bedouin camp, you can come good on your word. There are plenty of journey actions on provide, from 4WD journeys across the desert dunes to camel trekking, sandboarding, and dune buggy journeys. Abu Dhabi's luxurious resorts rim the shoreline of the town's numerous islands. For sun-and-sand targeted vacations in Dubai, luxury resorts are targeted alongside the coast west of the central metropolis. It could additionally be a billionaire's playground, but you do not needbillions, or even tens of millions, to take benefit of Abu Dhabi. Apart from native specialities as cosmopolitan as the shawarma, hummus or falafel, there are a plethora of conventional dishes you can not fail to strive when you have the chance to travel to the United Arab Emirates. The festivities of the United Arab Emirates are marked mainly by the Islamic faith, so lots of their celebrations are topic to the Muslim calendar and their dates might range from one yr to a different. The luxury, grandeur and modernity of some of its cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have made it also have great sports and cultural events which would possibly be characterized by their ostentation. The city of shopping, Dubai, has a day dedicated to buying; good day to visit the bazaars of the town and reap the benefits of their discounts. Dubai’s been building continuous since 1967 and right now the city has 60,000 lodge rooms, with extra to come. How The Uae Turned The Center For Artwork In The Center East He is the son of the founder of UAE, the First President, Emir of Abu Dhabi, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed is well-known for being a really lively official within the UAE within the subject of increasing and developing all sorts of relations between the nation and different nations. Ahmed Khalil Sebait Mubarak Al-Junaibi, is an Emirati footballer. Who currently performs as a forward for Al-Ahli and United Arab Emirates national staff. Various human rights organisations have raised severe concerns concerning the alleged abuse of migrant staff by major contractors organising Expo 2020. UAE's business answer provider German Pavilion can also be held accountable for abusing migrant employees. The authorities follows a coverage of tolerance toward different religions and rarely interferes in the religious actions of non-Muslims. According to an estimate by the World Bank, the UAE's population in 2018 stands at 9.543 million. Immigrants account for 88.52% whereas Emiratis make up the remaining eleven.48%. This unique imbalance is due to the country's exceptionally excessive net migration price of 21.seventy one, the world's highest. Drinking And Nightlife In United Arab Emirates For a party that starts at noon and continues nicely after midnight, make for one of Dubai’s seaside golf equipment, where you'll find a way to drink, dance, swim, and mingle. Located between the desert and the Arabian Gulf, fashionable Dubai is filled with life, and there are quite a few methods to explore the multicultural, dynamic metropolis's after-dark side. A vibrant evening for the women could be enjoyed each Tuesday night with three complimentary home grape beverages from 6 to 9 p.m. This small nightclub is one of the most well-known prostitution spots in Abu Dhabi. Built in the 1980s, the venue just lately underwent a contemporary refurbishment, equipping the interior with chic modern lighting and cutting-edge decor. A top meals alternative here is the delicious fajitas; attempt both the shrimp or the rooster and beef selection. Moreover, The employees are extraordinarily helpful and friendly and are skilled in providing professional recommendation on what to do across the metropolis. Scoring the best ranking for finest dance music, Trilogy, inside the Madinat Jumeirah is amongst the most celebrated venues for the best Dubai nightlife. The Moroccan-style, three-level membership provides a wide range of moods and the most important and finest names in DJ’s. Monday’s R&B night is likely considered one of the city’s hottest events, with DJs, leisure and an intensive cocktail menu. The club also holds dedicated hip-hop, Asian and ladies’ nights, when the bar is free for ladies before 1am. Discover most likely one of the best get together tour in Dubai for personal groups celebrating various occasions or unforgettable hangouts. A top-notch tour in carefully chosen bars and golf equipment & a great way to dive into the native nightlife in Dubai. A custom-planned experience, ideal for celebrating any birthday party, pre-wedding event, corporate occasion or only a evening out with pals. It is the trendsetter for the next degree of progressive wellness. Whether alone or with your family, we ship your private journey. Buddha-Bar followers can anticipate to be wowed by the gorgeous new interior, which takes sophistication to new heights. On the one hand, yes, it’s true that Saudi Arabia is amongst the most conservative nations in the whole world – and that Syria is one of the most dangerous. But at the similar time, different Middle Eastern nations – like Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and even Oman – are attracting extra Western tourists every year. Certain cities in these international locations have gotten, or are already well-known as – one might say – worldwide Meccas for nightlife.
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senatashome · 5 years
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Deduction Research Watch
[Questions]
-  What type specifically is the watch?
-  What’s the watch colours?
-  Electronic/Analog/Mechanical?
-  What’s the material of the watch?
-  What’s the material of the strap? ( Leather, Metal, Iron, Ceramics, Rubber, Other..)
-  Why does this person wear this watch? (Reason)
-  Are there any specific marks on the watch?Where is it?Why is it there?
-  Is the watch for the sake of collection?
-  What’s the person’s occupation?
-  What’s the person’s hobby?
-  What’s the person’s income status?
-  The activity level of the person?
-  What’s the person occupation’s status? ( Manual / Non – Manual Labour,
Indoor/Outdoor)
-  Is there any stain’s on the person’s watch?What is it?Where?Why?
-  Personality based on ‘The Big Five’
-  Formal / Informal/ Casual type of occupation?
-  Professional / Non – Professional occupation?
-  Location of the watch?Dominant Hand?
-  Are there any clusters leading to the conclusion that the person has lost some weight?
-  Is the watch for its use, or for its appearance.
-  Is there any bracelet/wrist band besides the watch?Why?
-  The watch expense?
-  Who bought those watch?
-  Does the watch have any form of sentimental value in it?
-  Is the time aligned with the current actual time?
-  Any sign that the person has travelled to other places?
-  Is the time in the watch Exact/Too Soon/Too Late?  Why?
-  Is the type of occupation based on Individual works or Organizational works?
[Type of Watch]
{Dress watch}
The reason people wear dress watches is usually for occupation purpose, or to attend specific events in one’s life. The watch is meant for mere practicality and simplicity of telling times by a glance, and also to tell days/months/years. People may choose a dress watch rather than electronic watch usually because of the casualty and formality of one’s watch,the strap is usually a leather the colour determines the use of it, brown means that the person rather attend in an event or had an occupation that is rather casual and less formal (Party, Opera, Contest, Date, Waitress) black means that the person rather attends a formal events or had a formal occupation example :( Job interview, Formal meeting, White collar job.) People who wore a dress watch usually has a passive job or one may call a desk worker, thus we could possibly identify a bad back posture.
Conclusion: Simple, Practical, Formal, Usually Economically Stable, Private, Organised.
{Mechanical/Automatic}
Mechanical or an automatic watch is mechanical timepieces that offer many benefits over traditional wind by hand watches and modern
battery-operated quartz watches. Women’s and men’s automatic watches are popular categories in the luxury watch market. Automatics have been crafted since the 1920s but didn’t come into widespread use until the 1950s when watchmaker was able to economize the process. Men’s and women’s watches with automatic winding technology are stylish, interesting, and low maintenance.
People usually wore this watch for the sake of fashion and simplicity, the more complicated looking and attention gathering colour or spontaneous colour the more the person wants attention, by those possibilities we could possibly assume that the person is extroverted, one that cares about people’s opinion about themselves,
other cues could be gathered by how they dress, talk, etc. Most automatic and mechanical watch is expensive , usually the person has an above average income but that’s not conclusive because even people who has a fairly low income still wear this type of watch for the sake of fashion ( I’ve once encountered a janitor using a mechanical/automatic watch with a spontaneous gold colour but his outfit is rather ruined) Statistically based people who wore this type of watch usually works as a salesman ( not conclusive)
Conclusion: Extroverted, Easy going, Outgoing, Stylish, Open, Low maintenance, Non –Manual Labour, Formal.
{Electronic Watch/ Digital Watch}
Digital watches usually have a rather peculiar look on it, it’s mostly worn by men for certain purposes usually for a hobby that is mostly correlated with sports, a rather athletic person, active, most of this type of watch is water resistant and it has a rubber straps around it, people who wore this type of watch is usually athletic and inclined in the world of sports in general, one who wore this type of watch usually has a blue collar job or a manual labour job, extroverted, one who usually acts silly to gain specific attention, needs approval from the general society, mostly well shaped. One who has a strict schedule also has a high possibility to use this type of watch because of the fact that it's really practical to set up a specific timer and reminder at the watch.
Another type of digital watch is a smartwatch which is used for tracking our exercise on a daily basis, one who has a problem in sleep such as insomnia usually has one of them, organized, a smartwatch is usually used for the sake of motivating ourselves to do those activities in a practical way, most of them generally care about their appearance, dress to impress type.
Conclusion: Athletically inclined, Extroverted, (SmartWatch) Organized, Active, Spends most time outside, Open.
{Field Watch / Military Watch}
Field watch by definition is a simple military watch originally called “trench watches” they’ redesigned for soldiers to wear in a battlefield on WWII. They were made to do one thing in particular, and one thing very well: tells accurate time. They were made to be dust and waterproof, usually made of stainless still casing with a durable canvas or leather Nato or Zulu strap to prevent losing the watch in the field of battle. Field watches were designed to lose/gain a maximum of +/- 30 seconds per day.
The military watch could also be worn in active duty by a sailor, marine, airman, or a pilot. The watch is mostly for the sake of one’s occupation rather for a mere fashion, but there’s a slight possibility that the watch is worn in a fashion purpose to express one’s self-image.
Military personnel is correlated with a personality that is rather dominant, aggressive and serious, values practicality in thinking and focus the topic of conversation to the point, most of them are sporty or has a history on the field of sports, able to make strategical thinking during emotional pressure, extroverted, adventurous, self-centred and independent, optimistic, flexible, and strict. A few cues that we might encounter if we’re dealing with a military man specifically as a drill sergeant is heavy voice and highly aggressive, people with an experience in a field of military usually has a straight and good posture, they rather dominated the space around them, if they’re carrying a suitcase it’s gonna be at their left hand (most of the time) because the right hand in used to salute someone.
Conclusion: Dominant, Serious, Aggressive ( Not Always), Optimistic, Strategic Thinking, Extroverted, Adventurous, Self – Centered, and Independent.
{Pilot’s Watch]
Pilot’s watch is a watch used specifically for an occupation purpose, it’s used to tell an accurate current time accurately and other specified features, throughout the years the pilot’s watch saw inventions to make an aviator job even easier. Brands like Breitling added elements such as circular slide-rule and chronograph to meet the demands of ever-changing flight complexities. Other brands like IWC, Bell & Ross, and Longines focused their efforts on pilot's watches, particularly war years.
Pilots are a distinct segment of the general population. In addition to flying skills, a pilot is selected specifically for their personality and physical capability, a few ways to identify a pilot besides the fact that the person wore a pilot’s watch is to identify their physical functioning specifically their sight, hygiene, and metabolism. Pilot tend to have difficulty trusting anyone to d the jobs as well as they can, pilots tend to be suspicious, to a certain degree even paranoid. In moderation this quality serves them well within their environment and is, in fact a quality that management look for in the pilot personality, outside the cockpit this quality shows up in the tendency of many pilots to set two or three alarm clocks – even though he or she may generally wake up before any of the pilots go off. The suspicious/paranoid tendency also affects the way pilots function in their private lives as well. They’re inclined to modify their environment rather than their own behaviour. Pilots need excitement; a 9-to-5 job would drive most pilots to distraction. Pilots are competitive, being driven by the need to achieve, and don't handle failure particularly well, optimistic, pilots have a low tolerance for personal imperfection, and long memories of perceived
injustice, they tend to be scanners drawing conclusion rapidly about situational facts, pilots can people as if they’re instruments they draw conclusion at a glance rather than relying on long and emotion-laden conversation, they avoid introspection and have difficulty revealing, expressing, or even recognising their feelings, if they have a certain unwanted feeling they rather mask them, sometimes with humour or even anger. Being unemotional help pilots with crises, but can make them insensitive toward the feeling of others, pilots have a tendency to somewhat inability to create a good connection in one’s conversation.
Conclusion: Intelligent, Emotionally Incapable, Concrete, Practical, Linear Thinkers, Philosophical, Theoretical, Introverts, Analytically Oriented, Competitive, Goal Oriented, Organized, Realist, Observant, Perfectionist, Need of Control.
[Reason To Wear]-Fashion
One who wore a watch just for the sake of looking good most likely has a more spontaneous and attention gathering colour and design, most of them are unique where one has a transparent watch where we can see the functioning of the watch generally, the most common colour is gold/yellow, pink /neon, bright white. Those are one who likes to be placed in the middle of attention, generally, scrape for social approval, etc. Those are not conclusive if the fact is changed for example if the person dresses up for the sake of self-image and self-judgement not to be judged by others, rather it’s a way that the person expresses their emotion generally.
-Occupation
As shown before this part watch for occupation are usually used just for mere practicality and they value the quantity rather than the quality, basically used to tell actual time not for showing off or to gather other’s attention, classic, and formal. A few examples are shown above this section is Military Watch, Diving Watch, Space Watch, Dress Watch, Pilot’s watch.
-Hobby/Collection
One who collects watches usually has a lot of watch in hand, based on the general income we could safely assume that people who collect certain type of watch is stable financially most likely they have a high income, there’s a high chance of an extroversion trait in hand but not conclusive, some of them are attention gatherer, and socially inclined, somewhat optimistic, and outgoing.
-Sentimental
Sentimental watches are those who have a general sign of an ageing, culturally speaking the eldest sibling in one’s family always got the sentimental objects first before all of the younger siblings, if there’s no ageing sign in the watch it’s possible to indicate one’s
sentimental object by other cues such as maybe if the person has a torn or bad looking clothes and the watch is the only one that is expensive and good looking there’s a high chance that the object is somewhat a gift and preserved as a sentimental object.
[Colour]
Based on the colour of one’s watch we could safely determine their inner feeling and personality, the more bright and spontaneous the colour is the more the person is trying to gather attention from others, they most likely care about one’s opinions about themselves,the more dark and formal the colour is it’s more likely that the person is somewhat close and private.
Most of the time the knowledge of colour psychology is somewhat important in the basis of our knowledge base in the deduction.
[Sentimental / Gift ]
Sentimental objects is when one is given an object by one’s relatives or other person correlated to our subject that possibly has a higher degree of status or even the same such as our friend, one may keep sentimental object because it’s correlated with specific emotional situation or even memories, for example, if our friend gave us a plushy as a memory of them, but in this specific situation which is a watch sentimental objects are more likely given by one’s relatives or someone with a higher degree of status and income since calculating the expenses of a watch itself. That possibility or probability is not conclusive by itself if it happens in situation A it doesn’t mean it’s gonna 100% happened in situation B. For example, our boss or our parents gave us an expensive old watch as a gift, those gifts if it’s from a person with a different status than we will most likely become a sentimental object and also we can say it’s somewhat a luxury item if it’s classified this way.
This gift is somewhat similar with sentimental object, only that the object given will most likely be more up to date and new rather than an old object, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility that a sentimental object is also a new object, it’s quite similar within the two in the process of our reasoning i don’t think we need to differentiate those two.
How to identify sentimental watch / a gift :
-  The sentimental watch will most likely is gonna be older looking.
-  There’s a possibility that the profile of the watch did not match the personality of the person in hand.
-  We can identify if an object is a gift if they have a moderate difference within their outfit, for example, a man has an expensive metal watch but his outfit is somewhat shady and less expensive. And the opposite works for a sentimental watch.
-  It’s possible that the watch did not fit perfectly in the owner’s current wrist.
The thing that we’ll need to remember is observing and gathering data in context, we could use the owner’s profile and financial status and past wealth as a reference point for our deduction. (More to the sentimental / gift/ luxury items in a video by ‘The Art of Deduction’: How to Read People; What are Luxury Items? The Methodology of Deduction 3)
[Marks and Scratches]
‘One can deduce a person’s habit a personality by just looking at a series of scratch on a person’s watch’
We’re gonna use the splendid deductions done by the character himself Sherlock Holmes in chapter 1 of The Sign of Four’ as a reference point to this topic.
“What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend. For example, I began by stating that your brother was careless. When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects, such as coins or keys, in the same pocket. Surely it is no great feat to assume that a man who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man. Neither is it a very far-fetched inference that a man who inherits one article of such value is pretty well provided for in other respects.”
Financial status and the expense of the watch is a wonderful way to start our train of thought, we rather could identify someone who is careless by looking at the amount of scratches on one’s watch, as he said someone who is careless rather don’t care about the condition of the watch itself because they put it on a pocket who is mixed with keys and coins, but maybe the carelessness is because the person itself doesn’t spend much money on the watch? If the person does spend money on it we could assume two things: The person is somewhat careless as referenced, possibly lazy, and by those references, we could come up to a broader conclusion such as what causes those carelessness and lazy behaviour? In this occasion, it’s because of Watson’s brother repetitive drinking or alcoholism and possibly because of his financial status at hand. And when Holmes goes to the keyhole he could safely infer that Watson’s brother is an alcoholic
“What sober man’s key could have scored those grooves? But you will never see a drunkard’swatch without them. He winds it at night, and he leaves these traces of his unsteady hand. Where is the mystery in all this?”
The opposite works the same way, man without scratches or grooves on his watch could indicate that the watch is new, if the colour seems blurred and less shiny we could assume that the person takes a good care of his items, possibly for the sake of fashion or good looking by those we could go deeper on one’s profile.
[Dissaligned Time]
If a person has time in their watch which is misaligned with the actual time we could tell a few things about them
{To Late} If a person has a watch that has a late timing in them this could mean a few things
-  First is that the person didn’t really depend that much on their time on their daily basis or activity, this, of course, could be denied by certain laziness.
-  Lazy, the person is too lazy to set up the time exactly.
-  The person didn’t have the time to set up an exact timing on their watch, could
possibly say that the person has a somewhat strict schedule in their life.
-  The watch is more used as a good looking or fashion purpose rather for its general purpose.
-  The person hasn’t used this specific watch in a long period of time.
-  Undisciplined, disorganized.
-  The person possibly needs to change the battery of the watch in hand.
{Exact / Precise}
-  The person’s activity depends on being strict and on time. ( Prefers general scheduling and thinking before acting rather than doing impulsive activities)
-  Possibly an optimistic or a professional worker. ( Denied by the fact that a certain activity is rather forced or just to survive and having a stable economic status)
-  A few times in hand to precisely set the time. {To soon}
-  The person likes to come to certain situations rather too quick than too late.
-  Organized and disciplined person.
-  Had a specific schedule.
-  Trying to remove a bad habit which is attending certain events/situations lately.
{Totally different]
- The person possibly travelled to another country and just got back from those countries which he/she didn’t have the time to change the timing on his/her watch.
The time misalignment only occurs when the timing is far fetched from the actual current time for example for 10 minutes or more. Thus we can’t get by to certain conclusions just because the time is 3 minute too soon or vice versa.
- R.D
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paladin-pile · 6 years
Text
What “Pilot Personality” do each of the Voltron Characters fall into?
This has been sitting in my docs for exactly a year under the title “stupid freaking meta” cause it was a pain to write. But it’s been on my mind so I thought it was time for another post, based on my experience as a pilot and member of the aviation community. 
As I was making this I realized that this might be some good fanfiction material for y’all, so enjoy. (Fyi: every pilot-related example or description I use in this post is a real life true story/situation that I have heard or experienced! Nothing made up.)
I began learning to fly at age 16, before I learned to drive. I got my pilot’s license at age 19 which was almost 6 years ago, and it’s safe to say I’m just a little obsessed. I spent years around pilots from all walks of life, and very quickly caught on to the fact that there are different types of pilots, but still a common thread that goes through everyone.
When I sat down one day in July 2016 and watched Voltron for the first time, I was immediately smitten. It was everything I loved: space, flying, technology, awesome characters, all rolled into one. Interestingly enough, I can pinpoint the EXACT SECOND I first fell in love with this show...
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I literally paused the episode here and texted my friend about how I had found the new Big Thing in my life. This was it, this show knew us. As I continued watching I was thrilled to see each character be such a fabulous example of the different types of pilots and have a lot of deep threads I resonated with. I’m going to go through each main character and describe what “type” of pilot they fit and why. So buckle up folks, this post is Hella Long. First up,
Lance
It may be hard to believe, but I speak from experience when I say the vast majority of pilots are exactly like Lance. Even if your normal personality is not like his, he amplifies the traits that are inside every one of us. It doesn’t matter what your personality is like on the ground, your pilot personality can be a lot different, 
Lance isn’t scared. 
These are the kind of people who live for dives and stalls, pitching down the nose and laughing maniacally as the engine builds up to a whine and the ground fills the windshield. In order to get to this point, you have to be really comfortable with the aircraft, know what it can do and what it can’t. This kind of boils down to the first point about pilots in general that are illustrated nicely in the show:
Pilot thing #1: You have a healthy fear of what you should be afraid of, but you know you don’t have to be afraid of much.
Personally I have learned to fear only three things as a pilot: birds, fire, and myself (the ‘myself’ point we’ll come back to later when we talk about Shiro). Most everything else is a non-issue and might even be considered a thrill. This doesn’t mean we’re not cautious and responsible, but we’re not scared.
True, imidately following this scene, Lance crashed the simulator (which I also theorize he did on purpose), so it could be argued he’s not that great of a pilot, but the point still stands. He’s in training, we all did stupid stuff in training, I did stupid stuff in training. It’s the attitude we’re talking about here.
* Side dish for thought: I see a lot of the fandom throwing around the term ‘cargo pilot’ like it’s some sort of insult, or ‘oh that’s so boring and has no prestige whatsoever’ but let me set one thing straight: being a cargo pilot is the BOMB, and I would take that over being a fighter any day.
Flying a 180 ton aircraft filled with supplies or troops through canyons and around mountains, low enough to trim bushes and kick up sand, and the satisfaction of yelling “5 tons of toilet paper comin’ in hot!” into the comms is an end in itself. The poor grunts in the back are strapped in like sardines and trying not to hurl at your erratic maneuvers, but they don’t complain cause they know you have to stay low and move crazy to avoid enemy fire. You and your Thicc Baby are proud as anything when every load is delivered safely, whether its potatoes or tanks. (From what we see in Voltron it seems Lance didn’t want to be a cargo pilot, but I have to admit it would have fit him pretty well.)
#2 Talking to your aircraft
There is not a pilot on the face of the Earth that does not talk to their aircraft like it is a sentinent being, and treat it accordingly. No matter how big and tough we are, you can always catch us patting our ship with a dopey smile and gooey eyes, cooing “Hey Beautiful” or any other myriad of pet names.  It’s a thing, everybody does it. I don’t pretend to know the psychology.
Keith
Ok story time.
A few years back, I took a nurse’s assistant course and worked in a elderly care home.  It was an awful place. Elderly folks who had no family lived in small, dirty rooms, no longer able to care for themselves or sometimes even communicate. I knew everyone on the floor, and tried to show them love as much as possible in their often abusive situation.
One such person was a tall gangly man in his nineties. He was confined to a wheelchair, never made eye contact, and never spoke. Every mealtime we would take him into the cafeteria and sit with him, spoon-feeding because his hands shook too much to hold a utensil. We were encouraged to talk to him as much as we could, even though he never responded and none of us were sure just how mentally present he was.
One time I went into his room, I noticed something. On the rickety table at the end of his bed was a small, dusty photo frame. It held a picture of dashing young man in an Air Force uniform with sharp eyes and half-smirk, a curly-haired little girl in his arms. One of the nurses told me that was him and his daughter. Since we now had a little something in common, I decided to bring it up at the next mealtime.
“Sooo, I saw your picture on the end table,” I hedged, holding out a spoonful of potatoes. I didn’t expect a response, and sure enough, he remained staring at the table blankly.
“You were in the Air Force, huh? That’s pretty neat. I’m a pilot too, but I’ve haven’t flown anything very exciting.” I held the spoon to his mouth and he took it, swallowing slowly.
“P-38’s or P-51’s are my favorite,” I rambled, scraping together the creamed peas. “There’s something about the sound of that Merlin engine that can’t be beat!” I hummed and shook my head with nostalgia. The fighter planes from WW2 had always been my favorite. With the next bite ready, I turned back to him, and almost dropped the spoon in shock.
His head was lifted, back straight, staring at me with such intensity I almost thought he would leap out of the seat. My mouth hung open, spoon frozen midair, and for a moment I sat there in disbelief. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes, bright and fiery, overflowing with words he couldn’t speak. Finally, I recovered enough to smile, wishing I could hear what he wanted to say.
“I love flying,” I whispered, “There’s nothing like it, is there?” His eyes stayed locked on mine, and it was a long time before he could be coaxed into taking another mouthful.
Here’s where I’m going with this. Pilots like Keith are from an era that no longer exists. His are the type we can only find in the silent annals of history, like WW1 and 2. Pilots who were called “knights of the air,” unorthodox and brave in every sense of the word. Cutting out engines and making impossible maneuvers that pushed themselves and their aircraft to the limits and beyond. Split-second, all or nothing stunts that shouldn't have worked but did, pilots that flew by pure instinct and blood running like fire through their veins. Pilots who couldn’t let go of the controls when they landed because they had been gripping them too hard, too long. Pilots who would wait till the very last second to bail out of a burning plane so they could direct it to crash into a target, pilots who coaxed their plane to finish a mission even though half of it was missing, oil was smearing over the canopy, and hydraulic fluid was dripping down their legs. Pilots that got into a new plane that had just been designed and no one knew what it could even do, and flew it anyway. Kamikaze pilots who put their plane into a dive toward a target, knowing it would be the last thing they ever did.
They fought a war, some of them won, and they all disappeared.
The nature of air war isn't like that anymore--with the advent of supersonic jets and drones, the era of the fighter pilot is all but gone, and the gritty sword fights in the sky have become extinct. Even those who are fighter pilots today are given strict guidelines, and risks are reduced to a minimum.
Pilots like Keith don’t exist anymore because they are not born, they are only made under certain circumstances.
The closest you will get to those kind of pilots today are probably bush pilots, they’re pretty much the only ones left that push everything to the limits, fly with no rules, and rely on instinct. But for now, that spirit of Keith, that “you fight like a Galra,” drive, that extra sense and lion-heartedness...are only found in museums, in monuments, and in gravestones.
Shiro
Shiro is a classic fit to what we call a “Jet Jockey.” Responsible, hero-type, yet still a massive dork; the guy you’d see in charge of the Thunderbird demonstration team. He’s a leader, calm, charming, and fierce. It’s in the blood, in the way they walk and smile. When you hear the term ‘you got it or you don’t,” these people definitely “got it.”
They’re perfect, polished in the exterior, but what you sometimes will not notice is their vulnerability. Most all of them have lost close friends, hold some kind of loneliness or sadness in their chest, something that only the love of the air can soothe. Be nice to these guys. People like to put them on a pedestal, but they need human companionship to not let lost in the sky.
I’d like to take a moment here to share my insights from aviation relating to Shiro, namely, Pilot Error, and the Kerberos mission. I see a lot of content in the fandom of Keith and the Holts being outraged that anyone could suggest that the Kerberos crash was caused by pilot error. The typical response is along the lines of, “Shiro was the best, the brightest, most skilled and responsible student, he would NEVER make a mistake like that.”
That’s bullshit and every pilot knows it.
From our very first day in flight school, this concept was drilled into us until we could recite it in our sleep. Mistakes happen to everyone, no matter how good you are or how much experience you have. You think, “Oh I would never do that” or that just because so-and-so is legendary they can do no wrong. It happens every day and the best pilots are not immune. The vast majority of crashes are caused by errors by pilots who are not dummies. It’s the go-to answer when no one is quite sure what happened because it’s the most likely reason. It sobers the rest of us, thinking “that could easily be me,” but we don’t doubt it or get outraged cause we know it can happen to the best of us.
People are prone to make mistakes for no reason, when we know better. It just…didn’t even cross your mind at the time. You thought you were doing the right thing. It’s happened to me personally and I very nearly got killed, but it really opened my eyes to the whole issue.
Semi-related to this is a theory I’ve been toying with: that Shiro getting chosen to pilot the Kerberos mission was a controversial and even scandalous decision. Here’s the cold hard facts: There is no way Shiro was the most experienced pilot at the Garrison. Even if he was a prodigy and had insane natural talent, someone that young just does not have the experience that an older pilot that had been flying for years would have under his belt. Shiro was probably so good that some of the higher-ups at the Garrison wanted to assign him to Kerberos, but the other portion were against it, saying it wasn’t smart to be sending someone so inexperienced, no matter how good he was. When the Kerberos crew disappeared, it could easily have become a huge, maybe even public scandal, where the people who opposed the decision were crying “I told you so!” and citing what a mistake it was to assign someone so young.
The youngest astronaut NASA ever sent to space was 32 years old, and she certainly wasn’t in charge of anything at the time. The youngest person ever in space was a 25-year old Russian cosmonaut named Titov who was essentially strapped into a capsule and launched into orbit to test what happened to the human body in zero gravity for 24 hours (not pleasant, they found out). He was also the second human to go to space, when we knew pretty much nothing about anything. I can’t imagine the guts this guy had, knowing he was going up as an experiment. The whole story is worth checking out. Honestly this sounds more like something the Garrison would do, and the whole situation adds to the suspicion that something is fishy in the place.
Experience rules, I cannot emphasize this enough. It doesn’t matter how “good” you are or how fast you learn, the guy with more experience will always be better than you, no matter how old they are. For Shiro to be the most experienced at such a young age, all the other older pilots and instructors would have to be dead or medically disqualified, or something.
Short end of it is, there is no way Shiro was the best pilot at the Garrison, or the best choice for the mission. Even if he was a prodigy and at the top of his class, which I’m sure he was, that’s not what the higher-ups use to make a decision. Of course, this whole theory might be moot. The creators most likely put Shiro on the Kerberos mission for plot reasons only, but realistically is a little different story.
Hunk
Hunk’s category of pilots hold a special place in my heart: the mechanics. They probably otherwise would not be pilots, but it’s convenient to be able to fly the stuff when they’re running checks. Always covered in grease, their second home is in the hangar, tending to the planes like a kind doctor to a child with the flu. They listen to the aircraft. It’s more of a technical relationship, not quite as mystical as the other pilots tend to portray it. For the Hunk-type, it’s dissected into moving parts.
These folks are NICE. My best friend in training was a mechanic named Bob, who was a ray of sunshine and the sweetest guy absolutely ever. He was also HUMONGOUS, and it was always a kick to seem him squeezing into a tiny Cessna 150 with a squinty-eyed smile and a cheerful “Let’s see how she does!” He would never fly more than a few trips around the pattern.
“Nothing major,” he would say. “I’m not gonna do any crazy stuff like these guys,” *points thumb over shoulder at the Lance-like pilots drinking coffee* “Just little trip around the pattern so I can check out what I did without having to wait for another pilot to take ‘em up.”
They talk up a storm, they ramble. Mechanics tend to make fun of pilots for knowing nothing about how the airplane works, and have gut intuition like no one else. You LISTEN to these guys when they have a hunch or you. will. die.
Pidge
Pidge’s type of pilots are fun to be around. Curious, in the learning stage, usually teenagers, enthusiastic and eager, wanting to be a pilot for the intellectually stimulating reasons (“I read all the fighter manuals”).
I’m reminded of one of the students who was training at the same time I was. 5’4, short cropped hair, large aviator sunglasses, devouring the training books with quick wit and banter with the instructors. She also would roll up to the hanger in her sporty convertible right after getting her drivers license, blaring “Sexy Back” loud enough to shake the propellers off the nearest aircraft.
They may not have the ingrained, primal love for hardcore flying that pilots like Lance, Keith and Shiro have, but to them it’s cool and they love it for their own reasons. It’s a stepping stone to something greater, more knowledge, laid out before them like the rolling landscape far, far below.
Allura
When we’re sorting Voltron characters into pilot categories, Allura drops with a perfect little clink into the box marked Female Helicopter Pilots.
If you’re looking for folks that are Tough, who can catch grenades in their teeth while brandishing two sub-machine guns and walking through fire, you’ve come to the right place. Arnold Schwarzenegger's got nothing on these women. Don’t cross them, they can most likely bench press their own helicopter. They instantly generate mad respect, you feel like bowing whenever they walk in a room.
Fixed-wing pilots and helicopter pilots are two very different breeds, and usually are very loyal to their respective aircrafts. Most airplane pilots wouldn’t be caught dead in a helicopter and vice versa. Of course there are exceptions, but the accepted culture is for the two groups to rib each other, kinda like cat people vs dog people.
These pilots have a beaming smile and deceptively sweet twinkle eyes. These are people who have whipped the butts of every obstacle given to mankind, stared death in the face and beat it with their bare fists. I might be exaggerating here, but this is the feeling one gets when coming across these women.
Coran
Oh Coran, you are one of the most iconic pilot types, and the one folks are most likely to encounter hanging around any small airport. The middle-aged-and-older folks that fly to to other cities for lunches, dubbed “$100 hamburgers.”  They are chipper, wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts, and like to reminisce about the good old days. I am not exaggerating. Most of them are hobby flyers or retirees with eccentric senses of humor and very large amounts of money, maybe more than one plane and an antique car. If you start talking to one, be prepared to spend a while. They are a bottomless well of tall stories of glory, belly laughter, and that snark and slightly odd sense of humor that can turn dark if the right subject is brought up.
All together, pilots are a colorful bunch. Most everyone fits into these basic categories, but there’s a common thread through it all. Love, almost to addiction. Once we get in and taste the crisp air aloft, feel the vibration of the aircraft beneath our fingers, hear that ethereal voice speak to us. There’s no going back. It calls and calls and calls, and the farthest star is too close to hang our dreams.
Hope this has been helpful or interesting to someone. Please feel free to come by and talk to me about anything!
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fapangel · 5 years
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So that Tu-22 crash. I'm having trouble figuring out how the fuselage snapped right the fuck in half. It was definitely a hard landing, but you'd think a combat aircraft could handle that. Was the descent faster than the video suggests or something, or was it just a worn-out airframe?
For those who missed it, the video in question.
Truth be told, I doubt it was the airframe’s fault. Aircraft can be significantly more fragile than most people realize. It is entirely possible in a great many civilian aircraft to over-stress the airframe with control inputs. On fly-by-wire aircraft the computer will usually stop you from going too far, but on smaller private aircraft, the incautious pilot can easily warp the airframe if they yank on the stick too much. Pulling 2 gravities in a turn is effectively doubling the load of the aircraft, for instance. It’s not impossible to rip the wings off, but usually the engine will part company first. Formal airframe g-limits are actually determined by the strength of the engine mounts (as they’re much smaller than the wing roots, but supporting the densest weight in the whole aircraft.) Obviously, aircraft load effects this quite a bit. After installing the Huge Wonderful Mod Pack everyone uses for IL-2 1946, I took a fully-loaded B-25 out for a spin, yanked on the stick like I usually do, and watched in dismay as the wings promptly parted company with the fuselage full of heavy bombs. D:
Military aircraft are built for performance with the most advanced, expensive materiel available, but they still have to contend with the same engineering trade-offs. For instance, early-war American fighters like the P-40 and F4F Wildcat were legendarily strong; the P-40 had five main wing spars (most aircraft have two,) which made it so tough that one Soviet pilot rammed and destroyed two German fighters with his wingtip - and the wingtip wasn’t even severely damaged. (Most of the time a mid-air collision guarantees destruction of both aircraft.) But all that structural reinforcement came at a steep cost in weight, which is why lighter Japanese and German fighters could easily fly loops around the P-40. On aircraft, weight is the enemy, and the lighter you can make the airframe, the faster and further you can go, with more payload.
Where a plane is strong varies greatly, as well. Wings are usually very strong, as they’re literally carrying the weight of the entire aircraft, and they also have to flex a bit in flight, especially on big airliners. The fuselage usually isn’t subject to nearly as much stress. The size and mission of an aircraft also determine requirements. Fighters can expect to be shot at and have to perform very heavy-G maneuvers, so they’re built as compact and strong as possible. Bombers need range, speed and payload above all with maneuvering an afterthought, so they save their structural reinforcement for the wing roots (to lift all that weight) and redundant systems in the fuselage to make them resilient against battle damage. As long as the wings stay attached to the fuselage, and the fuselage has at least one of all the important things (hydraulic control systems, fuel tank, and engine,) they can typically come home, even with gaping holes in the fuselage. (More than a few B-52s demonstrated this when hit by NVA air defenses over Hanoi.) Wings are non-negotiable, however. 
In the specific case of that unfortunate TU-22, size is also working against them in the engineering case. To borrow from the physicists, if you imagine a perfectly spherical bomber, as the size of the sphere increases, the volume increases exponentially, as does the surface area. The surface area requires structural reinforcement running under it, and the volume must be crossed by reinforcing members criss-crossing it. There’s also the basic law of the lever, which combined with the issues of structural strength dictate that the further a point is from the fulcrum point (the support that transfers the load to ground,) the less load it can support without exceeding the lever’s structural strength and snapping it. And bombers need volume to store all the fuel and bombs they must carry. 
Now apply this to the video we saw, and you can see what happened. The TU-22′s landing might not look very hard, but for an aircraft of that size, it really is - especially if it still has significant amounts of fuel on board, increasing the weight. When it hit the ground its downward velocity was completely halted; imposing a brief but high G-load surge. You can tell how hard the aircraft hit by how it visibly bounced off the runway on contact. G-loads are effectively multiplying the weight of an aircraft, and larger aircraft will generally have lower G-limits before structural failure, so what qualifies as poor technique that abuses your poor Cessna is considered much harder when it’s a 757 pogo-sticking down the runway.
The bad news doesn’t stop there. The speed of an aircraft hitting the runway has even more of an impact on the effective g-load (remember, kinetic energy is mass times velocity squared,) and the TU-22M has relatively high landing speeds. Take a look at the design: 
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This is a high-speed supersonic bomber, so it has small, highly-loaded wings. They are swing-wings, which helps considerably, but the lower lift-to-weight ratio (i.e. wing loading) means the aircraft has to be moving faster to generate X amount of lift, which translates to a relatively high landing speed compared to something like an airliner. 
Putting all this together, you can understand why a bounce that qualifies as “very hard landing” in a 757 is an airframe-destroying event for a high-performance supersonic bomber. This is a prime example of why military aircraft have been fabled as pilot-killers since their inception; every design choice that makes them high-performance also narrows the safety margins, especially in the most dangerous parts of flight; take-off and landing. In that Tupolev’s case, the initial structural failure was exacerbated by how quickly it happened. If the plane was slowing down on the landing roll, the plane might’ve sagged as it broke in half and ground along the runway, setting it afire and giving the pilots a chance to eject safely. But since the aircraft was bouncing airborne, the shifting center of gravity and loss of weight (as the fuselage bent, it was not transmitting its load to the rear of the plane,) make the rear pitch up, as the lift of the wing’s fixed pitch is adjusted to balance the whole plane, not just half of it. That caused the whole thing to fold up in a hurry, and it was all over from there. 
Maintenance issues might well have been responsible for this, but it was probably a failure of instruments, not a weakened airframe. The bad blizzard conditions visible in the video are likely the main reason for the accident - as you can see from the above graphic, a TU-22 has very poor cockpit visibility to begin with (a common problem on many aircraft, esp. military ones,) and the blizzard eliminated what little was left. The warning lights that indicate the glide path were definitely not visible, which means the pilot was probably relying on their instrument landing system. 
Instrument landing systems are very simple and robust tech first invented in the 1930s, requiring nothing digital to operate; you can find them standard in ye olden Cessna 172 RGs worldwide. It’s a simple “beam riding” system; using directional radio beams to guide a pilot into landing. Even modern HUD systems on advanced fighters use the same two crosshair needles on their display, just like the physical cross-hair needles on a Cessna’s instrument gauge, to tell the pilot where he’s at. They can bring an aircraft in to landing completely blind, although the pucker factor is very high, as this HUD tape from a night carrier landing shows. It’s rare for these systems to malfunction or break, but if there was an issue throwing off the readings, it’d fly that pilot into the ground too fast.
Another possibility is an age-old enemy of pilots - ice. Icing up of the pitot tube, which measures an aircraft’s airspeed via the airflow into the tube, has been the source of many, many aviation accidents, especially when the data was acted upon by an autopilot before the human pilots could react (or even resisting the human pilots; do not fly on an Airbus.) These many lethal accidents have resulted in fixes, of course, but a slight error might not be noticed. And then there’s the altimeter - the basic altimeter operates on air pressure, so it tells you height above sea level, not the ground (you have to keep track of that yourself.) Air pressure also changes with temperature and weather conditions, so you have to calibrate for that, as well. But advanced military aircraft have radar altimeters, which bounce a radar signal off the ground to get nice, accurate feedback without dicking about; if that system had an error, a malfunction, or was just impeded by weather (ice on a runway can reflect radio waves in funny ways), would result in inaccurate altitude readings, which in turn would give them a false reading on their climb/sink indicator, which tells them how fast they’re moving towards terra firma. 
Long story short: it is very easy to die in a military aircraft, and these poor bastards had to do it in an old Russian plane, maintained by Russians, landing at an airport maintained by Russians, in a blizzard. Of everyone who might deserve blame, I expect the airframe techs are third to last, pilots second, and Tupolev corporation itself dead last. 
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lushscreamqueen · 3 years
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Slipstream 1988
*OPENING: *Good Evening Hi’ya yes, it’s me NIGEL HONEYBONE. Yes I'm so hip I can't see over my pelvis...bones. Welcome once more to the SCHLOCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Tonight we really dig down deep in the foul pits of the Public Domain to bring you a surprisingly modern film from 1989 that I found festering in the bowels of the TVS studios. A movie so bad it has never been given a cinema release in the USA. And this is from a country that gave us Waterworld.  So suspend the belief that you are here for entertainment values and sit back in a nice comfy chair to watch “SLIPSTREAM”
BREAK: From the depths of the earth..... To the edge of existence... The hunt is on!...And then after the break we will return you to your regularly scheduled program, “SLIPSTREAM” *MIDDLE: *Welcome back to the SCHLOCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. As  you might  have noticed by now, *SLIPSTREAM* is a 1989 post- apocalyptical ikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyscience fiction adventure film with a huge emphasis on aviation and things that ...um.. Fly as most thing aviationary do. I MEAN the film opens with a mysterious man, later referred to as "Byron" portrayed running down a canyon, being harassed by an airplane. You just know it’s going to be downhill from there. Slipstream was directed by Steven Lisberger who had previously directed the cult classic 1982 science fiction film Tron . I guess he learned something from SLIPSTREAM as he hasn’t directed since. On the downside he is attempting to re-live his early glories by writing TRON TWO. SLIPSTREAM is produced by William Braunstein whose only other film is some post production work on ElimiDATE, Nigel Green who went onto Run Fat Boy Run and Fat Slag, and St Trinians as well as Gary Kurtz whose prior list of credits include Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz , and American Graffiti.
> SLIPSTREAM is a far cry from anything that could be called, well...good. Why Gary, why?? Slipstream reunited Gary Kurtz with Star Wars star Mark Hamill who portrays the central antagonist in tonights film. Do I need to mention Mark Hamill was Luke Skywalker?? Well do I??   Where have you people been all these years, in a broom closet? He was originally cast as David on "Eight Is Enough" but asked to be released from his contract before Star Wars came out because he sensed the movie would be successful, and Hamill wanted to focus on his movie career. ABC refused to release him from his contract, thinking that having a successful movie star connected with the show would help "Eight is Enough" luckily for him, Hamill was in a car crash in  December 1976 and injured his face. This made him unavailable for shooting the TV series, and ABC was forced to recast the role of David, which then went to Grant Goodeve. Aren’t we glad we knew that! After all that there are other stars in SLIPSTREAM. Bill Paxton plays Matt Owens, but you may recognize him as that nice  married etc man from Big Love. Aka That Mormon show on SBS.  Bob Peck plays Byron and tried hard to make it work but still went on to do Jurassic > park and Lord of the Flies and While Kitty Aldridge from Porterhouse Blue and The Paradise Club is probably better known as Mrs Mark Knofler. It’s the cameo appearances from Robbie Coltrane  as Montclaire that is to watch for as well as Sir Ben Kingsley as Avatar. Its well after Ghandi was made so guess he must have been slumming it. It sure as heck wasn’t for the money, and F. Murray Abraham just turns up in just about everything so it’s no surprise he’s in this as well playing the beautifully over acted Cornelius. Thats it, I can’t wait any longer...Roll the movie. CLOSING:  SLIPSTREAM had a very short cinema run in the United Kingdom where it was considered a flop, and Australia where the film grossed just $66,836 during its entire theatrical run. These failures were perhaps due to the fact that a promotional campaign for the film was non-existent. Subsequently the film was never released in theaters in North America meaning it remained relatively obscure and why it only enjoyed moderate VHS sales. Fans, and I use the term loosely here, have been awaiting a director's cut on DVD but been disappointed after legendary producer Gary Kurtz said in an interview that the script was originally much more violent, but that these violent scenes that would have made the plot more coherent were never even filmed.  SLIPSTREAM has  many common sci-fi themes, such as taking place in a dystopian future in which the landscape of the Earth itself has been changed and is windswept by storms of great power. There are also numerous  sub-plots, such as free will and humanity amongst artificial intelligence. This said, overall, the movie is entertaining, and interesting. “NOT”  If it was based on a book, I'd love to read it. I came away from the movie wishing I knew more about the characters involved, and curious about what would come next for the main characters. Actually,  I’m a *FIBIA*  but really now I’m being *HUMERUS,*  I’m wishing I’d had a book and not watched the movie at all, Partially because this desk needs propping up but mostly  because  someone has to make sure the public Domain is safe for you young things.  So until next week when I find even more lint in the belly button of the TVS vaults  “TOODLES”
by Lushscreamqueen 17th July 2009
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July 18, 2021
My weekly roundup of things I am up to. Topics include upzoning, energy forecasts, advertising and overall consumption, and road damage.
Efficacy of Upzoning
This week it was suggested that I watch this video, which is critical of the wave of upzoning policies going on now to deal with high housing costs. The coverage of issues around upzoning is fairly comprehensive. Some points I would agree with, some I would disagree with, but overall it makes the anti-upzoning case as well as anything else I have seen in a compact form.
I would point to this video as a challenge for the YIMBY movement and other upzoning advocates. Do you have credible responses to the issues raised here? The main points, as I see them, are aesthetic preference for low density as expressed through prices, externalities of density such as traffic and crime (crime is not addressed in this particular video, but it is in some of his other videos and is observed to correlate with density), and whether prices will actually respond to upzoning as hoped (here I think the facts are against him but not entirely). It may be morally satisfying to derisively refer to all opponents as NIMBYs, but this does not address substantive issues, nor does it win hearts and minds.
I have a challenge for advocates of zoning as well. Zoning is arguably the most extensive form of central planning in the United States, and some economists have estimated that it costs the US economy trillions of dollars per year. The cost has been estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a typical single family lot. Given this, are all forms of zoning really worth the cost, and are there less heavy-handed ways to achieve goals such as preservation of low-density neighborhoods?
Energy Forecast
Coming right after the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the IEA has a forecast of energy demand for next two years. They expect that by 2022, coal will not only make up the big drop in 2020, but also the smaller drop in 2019 to set a new record. Natural gas should set a new record this year. Nuclear power will grow in 2021 and 2022 but not have made up the 2020 drop by then. Wind and solar will be the big growers, constituting almost half of new supply in 2021 and more than half in 2022.
It should be crystal clear now, if it wasn’t already, that renewable energy is mostly augmenting the fossil fuel energy supply, rather than replacing it (see e.g. York, among other researchers, for an illustration of this effect). This is not an anti-renewable argument. I am also a (partial) believer in the argument of Ayres and Warr that usable energy is a primary driver of economic growth, so the growth of renewables should be very good for the economy. If we can achieve breakthroughs in next generation nuclear fission or fusion, that would also be very good for the economy. This is analogous to energy efficiency and the rebound effect. There needs to be deliberate policy, such as carbon pricing, to take emissions out of the system; deployment alone will not do so effectively.
That takes us to a new paper by Avarez and Rossi-Hansberg, which I found through John Cochrane’s blog, which models the effect of carbon pricing and finds it will mostly delay, rather than actually reduce, overall emissions. I find this surprising and rather distressing. There are two points that Cochrane makes about the paper to understand why this might be the case.
First, since fossil fuel reserves are finite (at least at a given price point and technology level), reducing consumption today will increase reserves tomorrow, thus lowering price and stimulating consumption.
Second, fossil fuels and other forms of energy, particularly renewables, are substitutable but not infinitely so. Coal is generally baseload power, natural gas is dispatchable, and wind and solar are variable sources. The latter can be turned into baseload or dispatchable power with batteries, but only at major cost. Unlike fossil fuels, wind and solar cannot be used directly for aviation, cement, steel, and many other industries. This is an important point to keep in mind when you read a “solar is cheaper than coal” article and wonder why coal use still goes up.
Lest you think the above is an anti-carbon pricing argument, keep in mind that the two points apply to any policy that deliberately reduces fossil fuel usage, including pipeline opposition, clean energy standards, etc.
If we believe that future society will be wealthier and more technologically advanced than present society, something that I still think will be the case but wouldn’t take for granted, then delaying emissions may still be worth it because future society will more easily be able to mitigate and adapt to the consequences of global warming.
Effectiveness of Advertising in Stimulating Consumption
One of the common criticisms of modern economies, and of capitalism in general, is that they require constant growth to be viable. However, in wealthy countries (and increasingly in most countries), most people now have their basic needs easily fulfilled. Therefore, we need marketing to stimulate the desire for consumption and maintain growth.
There are a number of issues in this argument that can be interrogated, but I’ll look specifically at this idea that advertising increases overall consumption.
The idea at least seems superficially plausible. I’m sure it can be traced into the misty recesses of deep time, but the hypothesis that advertising increases overall consumption was most notably expounded in John Kenneth Galbraith’s 1967 book The New Industrial State, which is a far-reaching critique of what he saw as an economy managed by large corporations. It would seem obvious that advertising at least increases consumption of the good being advertised; otherwise, what is the point of doing it? Increased consumption comes with a range of environmental impacts, and for this reason the possible effect of advertising has come to the attention of some environmentalists; see this blog post for a typical example.
It doesn’t seem, though, that evidence since Galbraith’s book has backed up this hypothesis. This book chapter finds that advertising does in fact increase demand for the good being advertised, but not overall consumption, so advertising comes at the expense of rival goods. A couple of studies specifically dealing with alcohol (this and this) and tobacco (this and this) find that advertising increases consumption of a particular brand but not overall consumption; these results are relevant when we consider policy proposals to regulate advertising of these goods of dubious social value. The Montreal Economic Institute, a free market think tank, has this brochure arguing against the hypothesis.
I wouldn’t consider the above evidence to be conclusive, but I wonder what evidence can be marshaled to support the idea that adversing stimulates overall consumption. I haven’t seen anything compelling yet.
Road Damage
When vehicles travel over a road, they inflict wear and tear, which has a cost. Larger vehicles inflict more damage. How much more? It turns out this question is not as well settled as I would have expected.
Based on two main sources, I put together the following plot.
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Both sources rely on the rule of thumb that road damage is proportional to the fourth power of axle weight, a result that was found in the AASHO Road Test in the 1950s. In addition to being old, it seems that road damage depends on a variety of factors, such as tire condition, the type of pavement, climate, and others. The ratio of damage of a typical semi truck to a typical passenger car has been given at 9600 or in the 300s. The Road Test also didn’t examine vehicles with weight comparable to bicycles, so while we expect those to be low, the reported numbers aren’t very meaningful.
These figures become especially relevant when we consider road maintenance and who should pay for it. The overall governmental budget, including federal, state, and local, for road repair worked out to $572 per capita in 2018. If the above figures are correct, or even if the lower figures of Bradley and Thiam are correct, then the trucking industry should pay most of this bill. Road damage can also be incorporated into development fees.
Road damage has often been given as a reason to disfavor cars and favor active transportation. However, if the numbers in the True Cost analysis are to be believed, then trucking is responsible for 99% of road damage, which by the Urban Institute analysis would leave less than $6/capita/year for cars (some road damage will also have non-vehicle causes, such as water freezing in cracks). This is too trivial a sum to have a meaningful impact on development patterns except for freight mode.
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impromptu-manifesto · 4 years
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The Future of Travel in the age of COVID
The Future of Travel After the Coronavirus Pandemic
Travel and tourism will be changed forever. We asked seven leading thinkers for their predictions.
BY
JAMES FALLOWS, VIVEK WADHWA,  PICO IYER, ROLF POTTS, ELIZABETH BECKER, JAMES CRABTREE, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC
JUNE 13, 2020, 12:00 PM
EDITOR’S NOTE:
As we enter the first summer of this new era of pandemics, a tenuous easing of travel restrictions has begun. This month, the countries of the European Union will reopen their internal borders, and they plan to allow travel from outside the block some time in July. Singapore and China have begun permitting essential travel between them, but only for passengers who test negative for the coronavirus, use a contact-tracing app, and don’t deviate from their itinerary. Iceland will allow tourists, but it plans to test them for the virus at the airport.
Grounded for many months, airlines are beefing up their summer schedules—though the number of flights will be a fraction of their pre-pandemic frequency. Airports are still mostly ghost towns (some have even been taken over by wildlife), and international long-distance travel is all but dead. Around the globe, the collapse of the tourist economy has bankrupted hotels, restaurants, bus operators, and car rental agencies—and thrown an estimated 100 million people out of work.
With uncertainty and fear hanging over traveling, no one knows how quickly tourism and business travel will recover, whether we will still fly as much, and what the travel experience will look like once new health security measures are in place. One thing is certain: Until then, there will be many more canceled vacations, business trips, weekend getaways, and family reunions.
To look beyond the summer and help us think about how the pandemic will permanently change the way we travel, Foreign Policy asked seven prominent experts to look into their crystal balls.
The Collapse in Travel Will Bring Long-Term Changes
by James Crabtree, associate professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and the author of The Billionaire Raj.
Just as mass unemployment leaves indelible scars on labor markets, so the current global travel collapse will bring long-term changes to patterns of international movement for both business and pleasure.Countries with strong pandemic records will deploy them as tourism marketing strategies: Discover Taiwan!
Airlines and hoteliers hope nascent “travel bubbles”—small groups of countries reopening borders only among themselves—and “green lanes” for pre-screened travelers, such as those with antibodies showing immunity to COVID-19, will allow a gradual re-opening. They also hope that roughly normal travel will then resume next year. More likely is that a new system of interlocking safe zones will operate for the foreseeable future, or at least until a vaccine is widely deployed.
Travel will normalize more quickly in safe zones that coped well with COVID-19, such as between South Korea and China, or between Germany and Greece. But in poorer developing countries struggling to manage the pandemic, such as India or Indonesia, any recovery will be painfully slow.
All this will change the structure of future global travel. Many will opt not to move around at all, especially the elderly. Tourists who experiment with new locations in their safe zones or home countries will stick to new habits. Countries with strong pandemic records will deploy them as tourism marketing strategies—discover Taiwan! Much the same will be true for business, where ease of travel and a new sense of common destiny within each safe zone will restructure investment along epidemiological lines.
The Pandemic Caused Us to Fast-Forward Into the Future
by Vivek Wadhwa, co-author of From Incremental to Exponential: How Large Companies Can See the Future and Rethink Innovation, to be published in September.
Over the past month, I’ve spent time with more CEOs than I would meet in a year. They were relaxed, engaged, and attentive. We could brainstorm on ideas for them to reinvent their companies without having gatekeepers or naysayers torpedo the discussions. These were the most productive talks I’ve had with C-level executives—and as you may have guessed, this was all done from the comfort of our homes.Our business meetings, family vacations, and leisure activities will increasingly move into virtual worlds.
Two months ago, it would have been inconceivable to be meeting over Skype or Zoom; now it is the norm. The pandemic caused us to fast-forward ten years into the future and there is no turning back. This is the way a lot of business communications will stay.
We may not realize it, but the videoconferencing technologies we are using are right out of science fiction. Remember the TV series The Jetsons? We now have the videophones that George and Judy used.
The next leap forward will come from virtual reality, which is advancing at breakneck speed and will take us by surprise. Our business meetings, family vacations, and leisure activities will increasingly move into virtual worlds. A trip to Tahiti or Mars, perhaps? The holodecks from Star Trek are on their way.
Travel Could Become Unaffordable for Many
by Elizabeth Becker, the author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism.
Overnight, much of the world went from over-tourism to no tourism. Since then, locals have seen how their lives have improved without those insane crowds: clear skies with vistas stretching for miles, a drastic reduction of litter and waste, clean shorelines and canals, and a return of wildlife.Whatever our income level, travel will take a greater slice of our disposable income.
But business after business went broke without those tourists, revealing how much the global economy depends on non-stop travel. The economic devastation will mean far fewer people can afford to travel. Whatever our income level, travel will take a greater slice of our disposable income.
So be prepared for two dramatically different trends.
Some national and local governments will redesign their tourism strategies to keep down crowds, keep more money in the local economy, and enforce local regulations including those protecting the environment. Many health protocols will become permanent.
Other governments will compete for the shrinking tourist dollar by racing to the bottom, allowing the travel industry to regulate itself, using deep discounts to fill hotels and airplanes and revive over-tourism.
Smart travelers will trust places with good governance and health systems. They will take fewer trips and stay longer. They will see this pandemic as a forecast of what’s to come from the climate crisis. They will act like responsible citizens as well as passionate travelers.
The Freedom to Travel Is Vital to the Post-Pandemic Recovery
by Alexandre de Juniac, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and a former CEO of Air France-KLM.
It’s too early for long-term predictions, but when the first travelers return to the skies, they will find measures that have become commonplace adapted to flying: reduced personal contact, enhanced sanitization, temperature checks, and social distancing. And where sufficient distance isn’t possible—onboard aircraft or in airports—masks will be required.Measures that have become commonplace will be adapted to flying: reduced personal contact, enhanced sanitization, temperature checks, and social distancing.
Within days of 9/11—the last great inflection point for aviation—flying resumed securely. But two decades later, we are still ironing out some of the inconsistencies and inefficiencies of security procedures. This time, months of being mostly grounded have given the airline industry more time to plan and prepare.
With the support of IATA and others, the International Civil Aviation Organization developed a global restart plan to keep people safe when traveling. Restart measures will be bearable for those who need to travel, with universal implementation the priority. It will give governments and travelers the confidence that the system has strong biosafety protections. And it should give regulators the confidence to remove or adjust measures in real time as risk levels change and technology advances.
The freedom to travel will be vital to the post-pandemic recovery. My hope is that we will come out of the crisis with a better passenger experience by moving people through airports more efficiently and increasing confidence in health safety. I am optimistic that this will be a winning result for travelers, governments, the airline industry, and the economy.
We Forgot How Fundamental Travel Was to Modern Life
by James Fallows, a staff writer for The Atlantic and the co-author, with Deborah Fallows, of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.
Because the process of travel was so routine and often so aggravating, people of the pre-pandemic era rarely concentrated on how fundamental that process—high-volume, high-speed, relatively low-cost human movement—was to the very idea of being modern.What might be lost with a long interruption in easy-connectedness is only now becoming evident.
Students took it for granted that they could aspire to an academic program in a different region, country, or continent—and still go back to visit their families. People who had emigrated permanently, or left their countries for a few years of work or adventure, knew that their homeland was still in relatively quick reach. Children saw their grandparents up close. Families could gather for weddings, births, graduations, funerals. Businesspeople from remote locations went to conventions and conferences to make deals and coordinate plans. The world’s cultural and touristic attractions became open to people from all corners of the globe. For Americans, air travel and international exposure were once such rarities that the now-absurd-sounding term “jet set” actually meant something when it was coined in the 1950s. The commodification of travel allowed people of ordinary means to compose a “bucket list” of sights they wanted to see—and to assume they’d be able to.
Before the lockdown, it was easy to recite all the harm mass travel had done, from the throngs overwhelming Venice or Machu Picchu to the standardization of hotel-and-airport life worldwide. What might be lost with a long interruption in easy-connectedness is only now becoming evident.
There Will Be a Boom in Domestic Travel
by Rolf Potts, the author of four books, including the bestselling travel-philosophy primer Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.
One startling detail about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is that areas with concentrated outbreaks are called hot spots—which is exactly the same phrase the commercial travel industry has used to denote popular and fashionable destinations. This uncomfortable parallel reminds us that travel, in our globalized era, enabled the spread of the virus in a historically unprecedented way.I doubt the desire to go to so-called hot spots or top-ten-list destinations will drive the next wave of travel.
For many people, travel is synonymous with vacations—and that’s fine, but somehow I don’t see vacationers as the model for post-pandemic travel. A constant source of travel headlines in recent years has been tourist overcrowding in places such as Venice and Bali, and I doubt the desire to go to so-called hot spots or top-ten-list destinations will drive the next wave of travel. It will be the desire simply to go, and to figure things out along the journey. Think road trip or backpacking adventure, not package tour.
No doubt the new world of travel will see a boom in domestic travel. Many will go by van or recreational vehicle—and that makes sense, given that one is a lot more self-contained when one travels that way. International travel will also return—and it will be pioneered not just by savvy backpackers and independent travelers going on their own pace and seeing how the journey plays out, but also by working-class folks around the world seeking out family back home, whether that’s in Nigeria, Ecuador, or Poland.
We Will Keep Traveling Because Curiosity Cannot Be Expunged
by Pico Iyer, the author of 15 books that have been translated into 23 languages, most recently Autumn Light and A Beginner’s Guide to Japan.
For all our good intentions, we are creatures of habit—and of increasingly diminished attention spans. And COVD-19 has reminded us how little we can confidently say about tomorrow, or even tonight. But my suspicion is that, for better and worse, we will be traveling—and living and making predictions—in June 2021 much as we did in June 2019. For better and worse, we will be traveling in June 2021 much as we did in June 2019.
To some extent, we have to. I was obliged to take three flights in the middle of the pandemic, from Osaka to Santa Barbara, where my 88 year-old mother had just emerged from hospital. A few weeks earlier, I had to fly from Japan to California—for a day—for a public event to which I had long been contractually committed. 
It would be a blessing for the environment if we all traveled less. And anxiety about travel will be greater next season, and prices higher. 
But globalism, having spread from person to person for so long, cannot be reversed. 
Cultural curiosity cannot be expunged. My trips to North Korea have shown me what happens when people cannot get to see the world first-hand.
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riiroo · 4 years
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What To Teach Your Kids This September 2019
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Well, it looks like we’ve seen the best of the summer days and now the kids are back at school. So, back to normal then :)
Each month at RiiRoo, we focus on different engaging topics to teach your kids in addition to what they would usually learn at school.
If you missed last month’s article - What To Teach Your Kids This August 2019, then you can read it here.
Last month we looked at Neil Armstrong’s birthday (the first man to walk on the moon), Play In The Sand Day (yes, this is a day), IBM PC announcement, Annie Oakley (sharpshooter) birthday, International Left Hander’s Day and National Aviation’s day.
This month
This month we’re going to look at Hitler invaded Poland; thus began World War II in Europe, The Great Fire of London, Treaty of Paris signed that ended the American Revolutionary War, Neptune Discovered and 9/11 - The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
1st September - Hitler invaded Poland
On September 1, 1939, under the rule of Adolf Hitler, Germany invaded Poland that triggered the worst war the planet has ever seen. World War ll. Believe it or not, Japan and China were also at war at the same time, so the world wasn’t a very nice place to live at this moment in time.
The Polish invasion lasted about a month before the Nazi victory. Unfortunately, this war plunged the world into a massive crisis and significant war that would last an astonishing six years and claim the lives of millions of innocent people on both sides.
Resources:
Here's Why That Move Marked the Beginning of WWII
Seventy-Five years ago, Hitler invaded Poland. Here's how it happened
Germany invades Poland
2nd September - The Great Fire of London
After so many people in London managed to avoid the Great Plague in 1665, they must have thought that the year 1666 would be a much better year. However, they were to be proved wrong.
In 1966 London witnessed one of the most massive fires the world has ever seen at the time.
The fire started in the King’s bakery in Pudding Lane near London Bridge. 
Now, fires were quite common at the time and nothing out of the ordinary. The Lord Mayor at the time was woken up and told about the fire, in which he replied, “Pish! A woman might pi** it out!.”
Unfortunately, for London, they had a particularly hot summer that year, and there hadn’t been any rain for weeks.
Resources:
The Great Fire of London
In 1666, a devastating fire swept through London.
Ten things you (probably) didn’t know about the Great Fire of London
3rd September - Treaty of Paris signed that ended the American Revolutionary War
Even though this was a treaty signed in Paris, it was formed to end the American Revolutionary War in 1783.
The American statesman John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin negotiated the peace treaty with Great Britain, and it was officially recognised by the Crown which brought about American Independence (as it is still known today).
It was down to the combined forces of the American and French troops that led George Washington to surround the British and its general Charles Cornwallis.
Resources:
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 
Treaty of Paris (1783) - Wikipedia
Primary Documents in American History
23rd September 1846 - The planet Neptune was discovered
It’s strange to think that planets were discovered. I mean, they have been around forever, however, not for us humans. 
We discovered the planet Neptune on September 23, 1846, using mathematics. Johann Gottfried Galle, Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, and John Couch Adams worked independently, but all contributed to finding this new world.
Their work was in an international dispute as to whom to attribute the discovery since they all managed to discover it at the same time.
So What’s So Special About Neptune?
Neptune is the farthest planet we know of that is most distant from the Sun, so you could conclude that it’s pretty cold there. It is also the fourth-largest planet by diameter and 17 times the mass of earth.
Resources:
Today in science: Discovery of Neptune
Discovery of Neptune
Neptune’s discovery
11th September - The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history
A total of nineteen men committed the worst terrorist attack on US soil when they hijacked four fuel-laden US commercial planes destined for the Twin Towers, World Trade Center (WTC), The Pentagon and a Shanksville, Pennsylvania field.
In total, 2,977 people lost their lives in Washington DC, New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The attack is said to have been orchestrated by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in retaliation to US forces in occupying several oil-rich African countries.
Resources:
September 11 Terror Attacks Fast Facts
September 11 Attacks
FAQ about 9/11
29th September - World Heart Day
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In May 2012, world leaders agreed that reducing global mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025.
World Heart Day was created by the World Heart Federation to inform people around the world that Cardiovascular disease (CVD) can be reduced by having a healthy diet and reduce the consumption of alcohol and tobacco.
Resources:
World Heart Day
World Heart Day - Scale up prevention
So that’s it for another month. If you would like more interesting information like this, please sign up for the RiiRoo newsletter.
See you next month.
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itsnelkabelka · 6 years
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Speech: The World Order Today: Is it fit for purpose?
When I first met my husband, in 2002, I was doing my Masters in international relations at the London School of Economics. He came to my housewarming party, and his chat up line, his opening gambit, was about Francis Fukuyama and the end of history: had liberal democracy really won the battle of ideology? To be honest I didn’t know, I thought it quite odd as a chat up line - but I liked him anyway.
And when I think back to that time, there was a real sense of optimism about the world order. It was after the UK’s successful intervention in Sierra Leone, after NATO’s intervention in Kosovo - and before the misadventure in Iraq. Humanitarian interventionism was riding high; the Responsibility to Protect principle was gaining traction.
Yes - 9/11 had been a shock, a reminder of the threat posed by non-state actors - but there seemed to be a broad consensus amongst state actors on the direction of travel. And that was:
greater democratisation,
increasing globalisation, and
a sense of universal values and rights that would and could be protected - even across borders.
Today that optimism has gone. The world feels more insecure and less stable and we are all - rightly - concerned: about resurgent nationalism, about whether “America First” signals a US retreat from the liberal world order; China’s ambitions in the South China Sea, Russia’s invasion of Crimea, hostile states using cyber to interfere in other countries’ democracies. Terrorism, nuclear war, water security. Our collective failure to stop the devastating conflict in Syria. The worst migration crisis since the second world war; five famine alerts.
All suggest that the world order is not equipped to deal with the problems of the modern age.
But to assess whether that is really the case, we need to know what we mean by the world order.
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Laura Clarke at the NZIIA Conference
I take it to comprise of three things. First, the architecture of the international system. That is, international organisations with truly global representation: the UN, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank; and also quasi-international organisations with sub-global representation: NATO, the EU, the Commonwealth, APEC; and so on.
Second, the laws, and rules that govern international affairs, sometimes, but not always, enforced by international courts like the ICJ, the ICC, the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
And third, but less easily defined, the shared values that underpin that international architecture and international law. They are, I suggest: - A shared commitment to reward cooperation and negotiation and to punish aggression and hostility; - A shared belief that human life should be protected and human dignity respected; - a recognition that our mutual prosperity depends on our mutual engagement and mutual trade; - AND a recognition that we live on a shared planet with finite, common resources that must be managed for the benefit of all.
So: architecture, law, values. It is a system which emerged from the aftermath of the Second World War and the horror of genocide. It is designed to prevent a third global war, and to reduce bloodshed from international conflicts. But it is also directed at raising living standards and enhancing life chances globally.
On those most basic indicators, it has been a resounding success.
There are proportionately fewer violent deaths today than there have ever been in history.
Levels of education are steadily increasing.
More and more countries are becoming democratic, and global extreme poverty tumbled from 44% in 1981, to less than 10% in 2015. Every day, 137,000 people come out of extreme poverty. No one tweets that, but it’s an amazing statistic.
And that is the success of the world order: international architecture; international law; and shared values all contrive to prevent a Hobbesian state of nature, and instead encourage dialogue and co-operation for the better.
But that is - in large part - the success of the 20th century. What about the 21st?
In some respects, the challenges for the World Order in 2018 are the same as those in the 20th century:
Hostile and belligerent states such as DPRK remain a threat to peace and stability.
And the Rohingya crisis shows us how hard it is to respond, internationally, to sudden and systematic ethnic cleansing.
But there are also very real differences between the post-war world, and the world today.
First, there are new and emerging threats to the world order: from non-state actors like ISIS; from climate change; water scarcity; mass migration; cyber.
Secondly, the global balance of power is shifting. We are moving from a unipolar to a multipolar world: the singular dominance of the United States is diminishing; Russia is back as an assertive presence in what it considers its neighbourhood, including the Middle East; and China is gaining global reach in terms of economic and political influence, and is aiming at vastly increased military capability.
And thirdly, ideas that we thought were shared and settled are once again up for grabs. For instance, resurgent nationalism and populism challenge the assumption that globalisation and free trade, and the multilateral institutions that support them are necessarily good: the Brexit vote and the vote for President Trump had multiple roots. But they were as much votes for the nation state as they were against anything else.
And there are certainly signs to suggest that the World Order is no longer functioning as it should. - In the UN, Russia’s cynical use of the veto on Syria has undermined the most basic task of the UN system: the provision of humanitarian aid, and the investigation of the use of chemical weapons. - And on global trade, the Doha round beyond stalled; and the US has withdrawn from TPP and wants to renegotiate NAFTA.
So is the world order broken?
We need to be careful not to add 2 and 2 to get 5. Just as Fukuyama was wrong to believe in a global narrative which irresistibly led to liberal democracy, it is also wrong to tell a story of decline or collapse of the world order today.
In addition to the peace and prosperity gains of the 20th century, there have been real, tangible successes of international co-operation of late.
In the security field, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran has made the world a safer place; and co-operation on aviation security since 9/11 has denied terrorists the grand spectacle they crave.
On climate change, the Paris Agreement has shown that the world’s nations can come together to tackle its most pressing challenge. Importantly, the US withdrawal did not spell the collapse of the agreement; if anything it emboldened others to meet their commitments and show leadership.
So the world order is clearly not broken. But if it is to survive in an era of resurgent nationalism, and a shift in global power, it needs three things: reform of its architecture; an update to its law and rules; and a reinvigoration of the values that underpin it.
First, reform the architecture. The international architecture is anachronistic - it reflects mid 20th century power structures, rather than the reality of the world today. So:
(1) the UN needs reform. The Security Council should be expanded - the UK supports permanent seats for Germany, Brazil, India and Japan, as well as permanent representation for Africa. And the existing P5 must agree to exercise veto restraint if the integrity of the UN system is to survive..
(2) NATO needs to reform. NATO members need to respond to President Trump’s challenge by meeting the 2% spending target of the Defence Investment Pledge. Decades of unprecedented peace in Europe is testament to NATO’s success; but it has also given rise to a complacency that the current security situation does not warrant.
(3) The international system of globalised free trade must also reform, from the WTO down. Trade is a global good - and not just in economic terms; it also enhances bilateral relations and ensures a level of cooperation and interdependence that reduces the risk of conflict. But we must not ignore the rise in populist parties across the Western world, and elections which have broken the traditional centrist consensus. Many feel uncomfortable with the pace of change, they feel left behind. There is a perception that free trade, open borders, and multilateralism work for the elite but no-one else. So: free trade agreements of the future must champion progressive principles; ensure adequate worker and environmental protections; and reflect the continuing relevance and needs of the nation state.
Other organisations also need to adapt and evolve. We need to reinvigorate the Commonwealth. And although the UK is leaving, I would argue that the EU, too, needs to reform. It needs to think carefully, reflecting on the Brexit vote, about how much more pooling of sovereignty its members and citizens will accept.
Moving now to international law, we must ensure that it keeps pace with change in international affairs. Two areas in particular are in need of clearer international law: a. Cyber. The UK wants to see the full application of existing international law - including the UN Charter - to cyberspace; b. The environment. The impacts of climate change, marine pollution and other environmental hazards all require urgent and collective action: and international law has a key role to play.
And, finally, our shared values.
The principles of that we hold dear -democratisation, multilateralism, and human rights - are under threat in the global system: in the west and elsewhere.
So we need to increase our efforts to make the case for the norms and values which underpin the international order. We should never assume consent.
First, in the face of growing protectionism, we need to make the case for International Trade, emphasising that our mutual prosperity depends on it - while taking seriously the needs and concerns of those who feel left behind.
Secondly, we need to reemphasize our belief in human dignity and the importance of protecting our shared resources. The global goods as we see them - human rights, tackling climate change, protecting the taonga of our wildlife and natural resources, gender rights, tackling poverty, tackling modern slavery - are not just good things to do in an altruistic, fluffy kind of way: they make sense in terms of the economics, and national self-interest of a country. If you don’t educate and empower women then - as Obama once said- you are leaving half your team on the bench. If we don’t tackle climate change now, it will cost us far more in life and treasure to respond to it later down the track.
And finally, we need to reinvigorate a belief in multilateralism. International terrorism, climate change, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks all require global multilateral solutions. But those solutions will only be achieved if we can base them on shared values: and if we can demonstrate the benefits of such co-operation to our citizens.
To conclude: the international order has delivered peace and prosperity beyond the imaginings of my grandparents. But if it is to endure, it must adapt and evolve. And it is for countries like the UK and New Zealand - close friends with shared values, and a shared stake in the international system - to work together to make the case: for reform of the architecture, an updating of the law, and a reinvigoration of the values underpinning the world order.
Thank you.
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1golfuniversityau · 4 years
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Can Anyone Learn to Swing a Golf Club?
Anyone tins learn to swing a club, and fun golf. Golf is like any other game; it is a compilation of a mathematics of skill sets. One must learn to swing a club, to procedures the ball; one must learn to aim, to demand the bliss in the correct direction; and the item then becomes rousing the orb proficiently around the world and ultimately around the course. The article of golf is to score as low as possible. This scoop will discuss the swing itself, but do not pondering that a great swing instantly makes a great player. There are many skill to learn in playing any game, and golf is not different.
If you have been on a driving range, you must agree it is quite an interesting recreations remark all of the different clothes flights employ to move the golf ball. You have seen the chop, the push, the scoop, and on and on. It is amusing at least and excruciating worst, but entertaining none the less. Have you ever wondered why escape swing the club the restriction they do? Are they mimicking a trip pro, or are they consequence it up on the go? The resolution is that they do what they pondering is correct. This is not a property only of golfers; this is a ownership of anyone trying to learn a new skill. Boxing, lawn mowing, baseball, hammering, whatever the expertise may be, there are different income on how to do it. So as we watch the folks punch courage at the range, tins we conclude that there are many different lane to actuality a fellow and one chamber is not better than the other? Yes and no; as long as the dresser employed allows you to proceedings the golf domain from hearts A to granule B efficiently, then yes. If you tins consistently claim your golf orb as you predetermined, then you are playing golf and your swing is O.K. However, if the bureaus that you utility is inconsistent, unpredictable, and limited, then no, your swing is not as good as it could be, or should be.
So how do you know if your swing is O.K.? If you are eating with a knife and fork and you are getting the pole to your jaw in proper bits, adopting no bodily injury, then you are probably wielding the eating clothes properly. I know, I have seen it too, the off fellow who holds their fork like a bicycle grip, but the boards is consumed, and these folks are not losing weight, so they know how to wield a fork. The same is true of golf; we have seen lots different swings, with different looks, but they cannot be called harm if they flights the desired results. So the foundation representative as to an efficient swing and a evil swing can be pared down to results. Does the swing in inquest produces good results? This is a commoner concept, but some may argue what constitutes good results, and I must say this is an individual thing. A generator may consider his swing a fate if he tins get the area airborne. An master would only consider his swing sound if he tins consistently and on order protocol his short as he has drawn it up in his mind. Ben Hogan said that he only blow roughly 3 perfect shooter per round. Ben would occurrences his heavens toward the hole; if the catch was on the left he would lottery the orb in, starting it at the spunk of the glade and behavior it toward the hole. Likewise with a probability end pin placement, Ben would fade the joy into the pawl location, starting the domain in the mettle of the glade and distortion it toward the hole. If Ben decided to fade a belt into a justness hand cavity position and the orb ended in the chasm of the lawn he would consider that a spring punch shot.
You are not Ben Hogan, but a good golf swing for the banner player, needs to accomplish a few basic requirements;
·         The swing must allow the monotone to box the orbits first and flush, meaning waistband then ground. ·         The swing must allow the idler to escape adequate distance. ·         The swing must allow the UAV to adjust and area route and spin.
Some of you may proceedings to add to this roster and please sense free to do so, but I believe these three elements type up the basic criteria of a good swing. If you can do these things, you can delight golf. Before we protocol on to how to accomplish these basics, I must texture out that if you cannot do these things, it does not necessarily mean your swing is incorrect, it may mean that you have not mastered the skills yet. Remember, golf is an athletic protocol which requires some athletic synchronization and ability.  Kicking a football is an athletic event that pack of us tins do, but as an athletic stamping it tins truly be mastered only by a great athlete. Golf is like that as well; only great athletes tins ever commitment to be top players. But unlike football kickers, poster golfers tins actually become quite good and compete at very high levels. Just remember that golf is an athletic stamp and a courtyard of our misadventure in golf tins be laid at the dogs of poor athleticism.
All of that being said, golf is not high jumping; an extent fellow should be able to extent 80 around a par 72 golf orb with little soups and a sound swing. Before you write me and tell me that you know people with good swings who cannot pause 80, I evidence tell you that there is more to golf than a good swing. Most talented players, who cannot score, do not score well because they do not know how to pleasure golf. In rationale you were not listening; swinging the club is not playing golf, it is an ingredient of golf. So what is the first fundamental of the golf swing? The first fundamental of the golf swing is to understand how to use the golfing tool. Remember the golf range, and the folks scooping their medium to bad golf? These group scoop, because the golf club aspect like it is made for scooping. In reality, the club does resemble a big spoon. The club has loft designed into the summit to lift the kingdom in the air, right? So the engineer think that he needs to get under the ball. In actuality however, the golf club is a little more dynamic than it looks.  In appearance the golf club is quite an ingenious formatting of physics. The club is designed so that the exploiter can utility it by custom only one force; tangential force! I know you all have heard that the golf swing is all approx centrifugal productivity and on and on, blah, blah, blah. Well I am not a physicist, but I did gains physics in seminary and I know that centrifugal firmness is an imaginary force. What? Yes, you heard me, there is no such strength of physics.
Look it up, centrifugal power is an idea, a idea to explain appearances, not a actuality force! So since we have cleared that up, we tins dismiss the sketch of employment a non-existent efficiencies to the golf ball. I only respect this because the impression of centrifugal efficiencies actually puts the picture in our mind of a club flying around in a circle and merely picking the golf domain up at the bottom and lifting it on its way. If this is your picture of the golf swing, I recommend that you rethink the golf swing. The club vertex does not hint a circle; in act the top does not really hint any geometrical shape, but if pressed I would opinion it traces somewhat of an ellipse. Now please, do not pondering that I am arguing circles or squashed circles to be a smarty pants. These concepts are very important to visual learners. Some aviation tins do anything they tins visualize; these people must be made aware that the golf club does not swing in a circle, constantly creature pulled outward. First and quantity important, this is not what is happening, and assistant it is not the picture you exclusion in your mind. Remember, if centrifugal determination were a true force, and you really swung the club centrifugally, then if the club apex flew off during your swing (based on centrifugal force) it would fly directly away from you. For pattern if it flew off right at effect it would flight correctness into the ground. Now anyone who has ever had a club summit fly off at effect knows that it does no such thing, it in actuality flies out in front of you, down the purpose line. Why does it do this? It does this because the solution you are employing to the golf domain is tangential force, not centrifugal force. Simply put an items traveling in an arc evidence leave the arc on a queue tangent to the arc. This livestock that tangential intensity will protocol the ball, or the club top if it flies off, directly down your files of play. So it has taken me a while to get there, but what this board to you is that you only have to apply tangential intestines to the ball, meaning box it flush in the back and the domain evidence travel forward. Your situation is to apply this striker drive to the ball. The bat location is to apply path and spin to the ball.
If you learn nothing else from this article, please learn that the golf club is designed so that you only range to apply that one force. You makes the paradise go forward; the golf club testament do the rest. That is why you have 14 racquet to choose from; sometimes you exclusion the orb to go higher, sometimes lower. The club testament profits care of trajectory, spin and distance; all you do is apply the force.   For the volume part, on full blow you apply the same energy for a driver as you do for a seven iron. They go different distances and fly different trajectories, but you have done nothing, but apply the same solution to the back of the ball. That brings us to hitting the waistband flush. To makes the realm flight straight you must plot the sphere directly in the back of the ball, generally near the equator of the ball. If you pondering roughly your golf clubs, you will poster that when you putt the putter evidence contact the staff directly on the equator. If you television it below the equator the nation testament loft in the air and if you cuff above the equator you testament pinch it against the lands and it efficiencies hop a little. If you have read any putting books you bureau have been taught to striker press your putter (meaning fondness your putter handle striker of the paddle and ball). The opinion some teach this is because putters like all paddle have loft and if you sole your putter with your fins directly in line with the area and the head of the putter you testament bins the sky slightly below the equator and the field evidence loft in the air. Keep in stage that the putter was designed to do just that, boxes the sphere up into the air slightly and then roll out. Some instructor do not like this stamping on slick greens, so they advise the forward press with the hands; this revenue loft off of the putter allowing your whipping to pin the globe directly in the back, on the equator.
When you pin the areas directly in the back you will impart maximum striker momentum. This is true in placing and it is true with every club in the bag, so if you know your agent is to blow the orb in the back, and you know that with the club perfectly soled with your flippers in files with the orbits you will conspiracy the sphere under the equator. Your beings with most bat is to apply maximum energy to the zone so you task to plot the equator, if you contact below the equator your shot will flight higher and shorter than you desire. Therefore it is common brains that at impression your flippers and the grip endings of the club must lead the club summit past the ball. Remember to liaison the equator of the waistband with the sweet loci of the club the loft must be turned down! Meaning hands ahead with a descending blow.
Now that you know where to television the bliss for the perfect heterosexual shot, it should not be too far of a stretch to figure out how to blow higher or lower shots. For the perfect straight, long shot every club must lean striker at impact; in actuality a peg evidence lean more than a seven, which testament lean forward more than a driver, but the hands evidence never be seat the club head. If you ever have a chance to see yourself on camera, return a seeming at your flippers at impact. In mixing to the orb and the club head, your hands should be slightly in front. If they composition at your division buckle, or worse, you do not have an efficient swing and you cannot repayment consistent golf. If your flippers are ahead, then your swing can produce solid formatting and maximum distance. For those of you who do not get into this policies you must learn how to do it. Now this is a problem, because to properly swing down and through, a golfer needs to fly adequate lag and pivot in his swing. And quite frankly these are athletic movements. You have heard that the golf swing is a marrying of an forceps swing and meaning turn. Unfortunately that is true; I know you were hoping to hear otherwise. The good news is that it is not super hard to accomplish this claim to some degree. The insult news is that if you cannot turn through the golf domain you cannot properly compress the golf belt and profits your divot on the pro period (in front) of the ball. I kinship divot, because if your divots start at or just past the district it is a pretty good bet that you are contacting the back of the domain properly.
So watch to see where your divots are appearing, you indispensability to demand them forward to leisure consistent golf. So you restriction lag and you role to turn through the amusement for your swing to consistently liaison the areas in the rear. Lag simply is a meeting which defines how much period you have between your lead pinchers and the club payment on the appliances down to the ball. At some kernel that phases testament sweeps 180 degrees. Remember at the zenith of the swing you bureau 90 criterion and as you swing down that phase increases until after impressing and then it resets in the follow through. The opinion you stipulation to retain some of that lag (meaning impacting the area before your last hits 180) is so that your club apex nates out in front of the ball, not behind. That protocol will guarantee that you design the bliss directly in the back. But that claim is not done in a bubble; if you swing your firearms and do not clear your body, you cannot hold onto that angle. In fact, if you coordination igniting situation in your low hand (right for righties) and gently turn through your blow with your body, you testament create the lag you need. This really is quite easy and can be accomplished by any coordinated person. You tins also preset this gentle inning through the district by playing with an open stance. There are lots methods; you will discovery what mill for you.
The slayer of a good swing is the box impulse. Remember back on the range, and the choppers that we saw? The bins talent is the strongest natural might in golf. Remember I spoke of the fable of centrifugal force? Any golfing physicist will verify the crate intuition force, this stability is not imaginary, but it can be overcome, maybe. You cannot develop lag in your swing if you cuff at the ball. The very achievement of stroke will openness the side that you stored at the apex of the swing; you must relax your grip (especially in trailing hand) and gently pivot your group through the domain and into the through swing. Only until you develop effortless energy tins you joy the quarry well. If you bins at the ball, you evidence produce anemia effort. An affective powerful swing comes from proper orbits contact, from a club traveling on the proper path. If you tins blow the firmament in the back consistently you tins mastery the curve and path of the ball. And if you can dominion the firmament effectively then you have a good swing.
Dennis McCann
Columbus, OH
Dennis is an avid golfer and an scribe of golf articles. He also has a great interest in golf indoctrination and testament publish articles from time to time, for some unique instructors. Dennis is the rosh of Anchor Goods LLC, a enterprise that operates online stores. You can visit https://golfuniversityau.com/product-category/clubs/  for other golf musings, and get an indoctrination article called "The Secret of Golf", emailed to you absolutely free.
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jacewilliams1 · 4 years
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Light Sport Aircraft aren’t selling well, but the LSA rule has still worked
In 2014, I stirred up a hornet’s nest by proclaiming “the LSA rule is a failure.” My argument was that the new breed of airplanes were moderately successful in keeping older pilots flying, but they had done nothing to inspire a new generation of aviation enthusiasts. Many readers (well over 100 at last check) considered this sacrilege and weren’t afraid to tell me how wrong I was. Others thought it was outrageous to try to draw conclusions so early. 
Six years later, some readers have asked for an update to that article. Have Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) taken off in popularity since then? Are Sport Pilot certificates more common now that the economy is stronger? At the risk of provoking another argument, my review of the data suggests no. The Light Sport world is still alive, but it’s a niche industry with few breakout winners. That’s not just a function of youth, either: the original Light Sport Aircraft rule has been with us for over 15 years now, plenty of time to get a read on things.
First, though, let’s be precise about what we’re measuring. Discussions about “light sport” flying include both LSAs as an airplane category and the Sport Pilot as a pilot certificate level. These are related ideas but separate; a commercial pilot can fly an LSA, but a Sport Pilot cannot fly a Cirrus.
Failures
As a certificate, the Sport Pilot certainly hasn’t set the world on fire. Less than 200 were added to the FAA rolls in 2019, compared to 27,000 Private Pilots. That statistic doesn’t tell the whole story, since many more pilots are flying under Sport Pilot privileges with a higher level certificate (for example as a Private Pilot “downgrading” to the looser medical standards). For those older pilots the new certificate is certainly welcome, but calling that a win feels like moving the goalposts: a key aim of the new rule was to welcome new pilots to the industry with lower training requirements. That’s simply not happening. In a typical year, a busy Florida flight school can add more pilots than the entire Sport Pilot training industry. 
There are dozens of LSA models, but none have really caught on.
As a type of airplane, Light Sport Aircraft have been a little more successful. Just under 700 LSAs were registered last year, according to the always-interesting Dan Johnson website. That leaves the total LSA fleet at about 8,800, which sounds impressive. The footnotes matter, though. These numbers include “Sport Pilot kit aircraft,” a broad term that includes experimental airplanes that can be flown by a Sport Pilot—not true LSAs. 
In fact, these kit aircraft account for the vast majority of LSA registrations last year. For “factory built” LSAs, the numbers are pretty small: only 41 Icon A5s, 60 Tecnam LSAs, and 63 Flight Design CTs were delivered last year. I’m not cherry-picking statistics; these are the best-selling models. The closing of the Sport Aviation Expo last year certainly isn’t a positive sign, either.
For comparison, Cirrus, Cessna, Piper and Diamond delivered over 900 piston singles last year. Curse those expensive SR22s and Skyhawks if you like, but they are selling much better than most factory-built LSAs. Heck, even Robinson helicopters sell better than most LSAs (142 piston model R22s and R44s were sold last year).
Causes
Why have LSA sales been so anemic? There are plenty of reasons, but three stand out. Most notably, prices have stayed stubbornly high, removing one of the key benefits the category was supposed to offer. The Icon A5 seaplane is the most dramatic example, with a price that has exploded from under $150,000 at launch to more than $380,000 today, but it’s not the only one. That sexy Carbon Cub SS can easily top $250,000 with popular options. Even utilitarian models typically cost more than $150,000 with standard equipment. 
Are LSA manufacturers simply ripping off customers? It sure doesn’t seem like it: these are not high margin businesses, and most are small companies that struggle to break even. The typical complaints about product liability, low volume production, and regulation apply here, but another cause of high prices is that owners simply want these airplanes to do more than they were designed to do. “Needle, ball, and airspeed” makes a great catchphrase, but most buyers prefer “glass cockpits, datalink weather, and autopilots.”
A glass cockpit and an autopilot in a two-seat taildragger? It’s surprisingly common in LSAs.
Whether an airplane is a good value or not depends on what you compare it to. While a $250,000 LSA represents a significant savings over a brand new Cessna, that’s not the real competition. A prospective airplane owner is more likely to compare an LSA to a used Part 23 airplane, like a Piper Archer. A quick search finds some attractive models available for less than $70,000—and remember these are four place airplanes with modern IFR avionics. Yes, the airframes are older, but for the money invested they still offer a much better value.
Another reason for weak sales is flight schools, a key target for LSAs in the early days, since they were supposedly hungry for a new type of training airplane. Unfortunately, that market hasn’t really materialized. Some schools have found success with airplanes like the RV-12, and Sport Pilot-only training centers do exist. The current boom in pilot training, however, is powered by Cessna and Piper. In fact, Skyhawks are so popular right now that prices of used ones have skyrocketed (if you own a 172S, you should answer the phone!). Piper even introduced new training versions of their most popular airplane, years after cancelling a short-lived LSA program.
One final frustration relates to maintaining and upgrading LSAs, which has proven to be trickier than expected. Because the airplane manufacturer must approve most upgrades, owners are very much dependent on the factory for support. Many LSA owners have learned this lesson the hard way with ADS-B Out, a relatively minor upgrade that has required serious paperwork changes for some owners. So an airplane category that was supposed to offer flexibility has, in some cases, been harder to maintain than a 50-year old Beech.
The new cool kids
In a practical sense, the ultimate verdict comes from customer attention and business investment. In both cases, the industry has moved on from LSAs and Sport Pilots. Electric airplanes and vertical takeoff (VTOL) designs are the hot new ideas, with venture capital flooding into new companies with futuristic designs. The solution for “democratizing aviation” seems to be cheap octocopters and urban heliports, not two-seat sport airplanes. And pilots? The future envisioned by the most starry-eyed tech boosters involves no pilots at all. Don’t get me wrong: I find these proposals to be outlandish and naive. Most of these are probably years off (and many won’t make it at all), but they are where the action is right now.
Experimental airplanes, like the Van’s RV-10, are the hottest segment of the market.
While we await our Jetsons future, it’s worth recognizing the real winner in personal aviation: experimental aircraft. This is where low cost innovation is taking hold and where general aviation pilots are most excited. You can go a lot faster than 100 knots, you can fly IFR, and you can even carry four people in some models. The most exciting new Cub design isn’t the LSA model, but the souped up Carbon Cub. For traveling, the Van’s RV-10 offers performance similar to a Cirrus but at 1/3rd the price. There are plenty of other options too, from the SubSonex personal jet to the Zenith CH750 bush plane.
Customers are voting with their wallets. More than 10,000 RVs are flying today, a number that has more than doubled since 2008. The LSA registration numbers above show a long list of kits, not factory-built S-LSAs. They are kit airplanes first and foremost, and if they happen to satisfy the LSA rule, so much the better.
A silver lining
It’s not all bad news. One reason LSAs haven’t found momentum is that, like a good football coach at halftime, the rest of the general aviation industry has reacted. In this sense, the Sport Pilot and LSA rules have been successful—because they have inspired meaningful change elsewhere.
BasicMed is the most obvious example. The “driver’s license medical” that comes with the Sport Pilot certificate hasn’t proven to be a major safety risk, so the FAA felt a lot more comfortable extending this concept to Part 23 airplanes in May 2017. No, BasicMed isn’t quite as relaxed as the Sport Pilot rules for medical certification (one reason Sport Pilots will hang around), but it’s a major step in the right direction. AOPA estimates that over 50,000 pilots are flying under BasicMed—impressive adoption for a relatively new rule, and lots of pilots who don’t have any use for a Sport Pilot certificate.
Beyond BasicMed, the looser airplane certification standards also helped usher in a new era of avionics. The concept of industry consensus standards was pioneered by LSAs, and once again the industry provided good evidence to regulators that a new certification approach could lower cost without reducing safety. The steps were tentative at first, but the last five years have seen a flood of new avionics, from affordable primary flight displays to “non-certified autopilots” in certified airplanes. This is real progress for thousands of airplane owners, breathing new life into older airframes.
The future
LSA rules desperately need to be updated to allow more powerplant options.
The LSA industry isn’t dead. A recent Flying magazine edition features an ad for the Colt from Texas Aircraft, a new LSA that looks to be well made and practical. Another newish LSA is the Vashon Ranger, a $100,000 LSA designed by the founder of Dynon Avionics. I had the chance to fly one last year and enjoyed it—it’s fun and well-made, with some innovative design choices. But the Colt still costs well over $150,000, and fewer than 30 Rangers are flying. Hardly revolutionary numbers.
There is some hope for regulatory relief, which might spur a new round of airplane designs. The FAA seems serious about updating the LSA rule to potentially raise the maximum weight, increase the maximum speed, and allow electric powerplants (a critical shortcoming right now for innovative companies). These are desperately needed to prevent LSAs from being passed by traditional certified airplanes in terms of flexibility, but any such change is likely years away from being reality. By the time it comes into force, new Part 23 certification standards themselves might unlock some of the same potential as an LSA—but with fewer restrictions on performance.
In fact, the ultimate goal for industry groups and airplane manufacturers may be to eliminate the clear lines between experimental, LSA, and certified in the first place. The FAA wants to move to “performance- and risk-based divisions for airplanes.” As the airplane goes up in performance or as the type of operation goes up in risk, the requirements for aircraft and pilot certification will tighten, but without today’s arbitrary categories. At that point, LSAs might cease to be called LSAs.
No matter how you look at it, LSAs have not transformed flight training or reinvented recreational aviation. They are and probably always will be a fairly small niche. Likewise, the Sport Pilot certificate has not played much of a role in the growth of student pilots—for that we mostly have the airlines to thank. Apparently a pilot hiring boom is worth a lot more to the industry than a new certificate level.
In spite of all the disappointment, though, there is reason to celebrate. The typical GA pilot has more options for equipment and medical certification than he did ten years ago, and the Light Sport industry deserves some credit for that. US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called states “laboratories of democracy” for their ability to test out new ideas at a small scale before being adopted at the federal level. Maybe that’s the legacy of LSAs: laboratories for the FAA.
The post Light Sport Aircraft aren’t selling well, but the LSA rule has still worked appeared first on Air Facts Journal.
from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/02/light-sport-aircraft-arent-selling-well-but-the-lsa-rule-has-still-worked/
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bloqwire-blog · 6 years
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The Penguin™ Blockchain Protocol and The Project’s Achievements Report
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The invention of the blockchain technology has helped in improving and transforming cash/payment movements between people all over the world. This is due to the convenience, safety, speed, non-border restrictions, amongst others, which are the fundamental benefits of the technology. Today it has become very much easier for projects to source for startup or development funds, by leveraging on the advantages of decentralized applications and smart contracts on the blockchain. These and many more ingrained elements of the blockchain technology, are the things that have opened doors of high value opportunities for once intending projects and visionaries, in accomplishing useful set goals. However, while it is common to find ICO events created for firms in such industries as aviation and transport, law, music and entertainment, finance, real estate etcetera, there had been relatively insignificant efforts in terms of creating top notch decentralized blockchain platforms that could aptly see to the progress of world charity and humanitarian causes. Most of the activities of the charity organizations had continued to dwindle at the mercy of crude centralized operation systems, that is drastically reducing their effectiveness and productivity. This brings even more concern, considering the untapped prospective relevance of the decentralized technology protocol to revamping and repositioning this germane aspect of human interaction. Now, the pattern is changing and there is an obvious solution that has been brought to the table. The Penguin™ protocol comes with an ingenious framework aimed at revitalizing overall humanitarian activities- both for needy persons located in various places of the world, as well as for endangered animals facing risks of extinction everywhere. The basic goal framework of the Penguin protocol Considering the many use applications and merits of the decentralized blockchain technology, the Penguin™ development team has decided to come up with a carefully mapped out project framework. The objective of the organization is to bring global charity organizations and their activities to peak levels in terms of effectiveness, transparency, sustainability, efficiency, amongst others. These are the very things that have been strategically worked upon, and which would show forth from the Penguin blockchain. Consequently, the team has already set out to work in meeting its objectives and fulfilling its mandate. The Penguin charity project aims at uniting charity and humanitarian activities via the use of its decentralized platform. This move is expected to remove restrictions experienced by intending donors, as well as the inaccessibility to funds experienced by facilitating organizations. The protocol’s activities would also indirectly see to it that humanitarian funds are rightly spent, since the blockchain would always show all the transaction processing records. This is a reason why all participating entities in the project are basically bound in transaction, by the Penguin blockchain’s indigenous Penguin coin (PENG). Other strategic objectives of the protocol includes a systematic way of cutting down on monies lost to huge transaction processing fees. By this, there would be an essentially reasonable reduction in required fees for sending money to their locations of need. This is why the platform is building partnership relations with the big names in human and animal charity activities. The partnerships would facilitate proper implementation of the Penguin’s operation roadmap. These partnering organizations would subsequently encourage PENG token use on their individual platforms, such that donations are also being made in the cryptocurrency. Furthermore, the need to boost up PENG popularity and adoption on the cryptocurrency market is essential, and cannot be overemphasized. The project has adequately set down modalities that would publicize the token, and increase its credibility value on the digital currency space. All proceeds generated on the Penguin network, would be deposited in a publicly visible wallet where the funds can be monitored. Other operation features on the Penguin protocol The Penguin protocol allows the use of a proof of stake (PoS) model in its operation framework. This means, participants on the platform would be rewarded based on the amount of tokens they acquired and staked in the network. The proof of stake consensus algorithm ensures profitability for Penguin users, while also consolidating the security system of the blockchain. In addition, the Penguin PoS is specially designed to allow an incorporation of future updates and upgrades on the platform’s basic operation methods. This is beneficial since the possibilities and innovations of the blockchain technology are ever increasing. Another way of earning the PENG token is by participating in the protocol’s masternode service provision. The services of the masternode user allows proper functioning of the protocol in some respect, as they perform their responsibilities. For instance, since Penguin is built on a privacy underlying code (PIVX), masternodes increases network decentralization while providing increased privacy on every transaction. This means payment donors are ensured of as much privacy as they require, while being able to effect their transactions seamlessly. The masternode feature would also enable transactions that are almost instantaneous, hence jerking up the effectiveness of the platform. Achievements of the Penguin™ blockchain protocol As it stands, the Penguin team has been able to achieve a number of goals, which are in line with what is listed on its project implementation schedule. The highlights below show a list of achievements and events made within the last few months. Achievements for the month of June Project implementation kicked off fully in June, and the platform was able to effectively commence with the expected preliminary activities. Firstly, there was a coin takeover program that was put in place, after which there was an important update carried out on the initial old wallet type, that was in use. Penguin also successfully launched its first functional website, open to members of the public, as well as the Penguin logo design for the project. Achievements for the month of July Activities were pushed a lot more higher in the month, as the project was able to issue out its future plan statements according to the implementation roadmap. The Penguin™ protocol team was able to conclude on major decisions such as the stipulated block reward allocations, as well as an announcement for the masternode collateral requirements for interested participants. The project then commenced on a social media publicity program, where five free masternodes were given out during the project’s Twitter marketing campaign. Penguin released its detailed project roadmap and whitepaper on July 10 and 16, respectively. Both documents contained well detailed information on the objectives of the project, and the implementation plan for it. In the same month of July, there were two organized sponsorship events organized by the Penguin project. Both sponsorship events were geared towards animal preservation and improvements. The events are the Quantaya gaming sponsorship on the 18th, and the donation made to the African penguin and seabird sanctuary. There was a new website designed and released on the 19th, while the masternode pre-sale event commenced the next day after it. The proposed coin swap date was also mentioned on the day, which was slated to hold in August. By this time, work had already been in progress for the listing of the Penguin coin (PENG) on the StakeUnited stake pool. Achievements for the month of August Project implementation progressed steadily in August, as the platform was firstly able to list its activities on Coinmarketcal.com. Subsequently on August 5, the proposed coin swap procedures were released, where it was stated that there would be a 10:1 coin swap deal. On August 8, the Penguin protocol once again made donation to another animal conservation organization Seabird and Penguin Rehabilitation Center (SAPREC). The masternode setup guide was released on August 11, while cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia announced its support for the Penguin token swap on the 16th. Other events for the month, were the donation made to Magda’s soup kitchen, PENG’s listing on www.bleutrade.com, and www.biteBTC.com. The Penguin also entered into partnership with the Whooper Crypto cold storage card company. Achievements for the month of September The month of September has been characterized by a good number of PENG token listings on various crypto exchange and information platforms. The coin got its information listed on www.masternodes.online, www.livecoinwatch.com, www.coinmarketcap.com, www.coincodex.com, www.coinexchange.io, www.coingecko.com amongst others. Also as it stands, Cryptopia has successfully completed coin swap, and has subsequently opened market for PENG. So far, there have been two separate donations to the Magda’s soup kitchen this month alone. Work is ongoing and the project has a lot more listed on its program schedule. What the future holds for charity and humanitarian cause Charity and humanitarian activities are one of the biggest funded sectors on the overall, and this would most likely continue to be. Last year alone, there was over $200 billion directed towards its activities (although several factors did not allow its optimum utilization). The birthing of the Penguin blockchain protocol brings the new approach to charity giving and philanthropic gestures. With this type of framework in place, there would be lesser instances of fund delays, and mismanagement tendencies would be reduced. Since the activities on the Penguin network has been well balanced to include use benefits for participants, there are surging prospects as to how successful this protocol would turn out. With an increasing popularity and user awareness, the platform is expected to experience remarkable growth in the days to come. Media Contact Information: Contact Person: Tales Augusto Address : Rua Antônio de Albuquerque - de 541 Savassi 30112-011, MG- Brazil. Email : [email protected] Read the full article
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investmart007 · 6 years
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TEHRAN, Iran  | The Latest: Iran's leader: Trump 'cannot do a damn thing'
New Post has been published on https://is.gd/ofe77a
TEHRAN, Iran  | The Latest: Iran's leader: Trump 'cannot do a damn thing'
TEHRAN, Iran  — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s decision to pull America out of the Iran nuclear deal (all times local):
2 p.m.
Iran’s supreme leader has challenged President Donald Trump over America pulling out of nuclear deal, saying: “You cannot do a damn thing!”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came Wednesday as he met with a group of school teachers in Tehran, a day after Trump announced he was renewing sanctions on Iran.
Khamenei described Trump’s speech Tuesday night as having “over 10 lies,” without elaborating. He also said Trump’s remarks threatened Iran’s people and its theocratic government.
Under Iran’s Islamic Republic, Khamenei has final say on all state matters.
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1:15 p.m.
European plane-maker Airbus says it will abide by renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran but that it could take “some time” to determine the full impact of the American decision on the aviation industry’s plans to sell billions of dollars’ worth of planes to Iran.
Airbus and rival Boeing are among the biggest companies affected by Trump’s decision to pull out of a landmark 2015 accord on curbing Iran’s nuclear activities.
An Airbus spokesman said Wednesday that “we’re carefully analyzing the announcement and will be evaluating next steps consistent with our internal policies and in full compliance with sanctions and export control regulations.” He said he expected it to take “some time.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that licenses held by Airbus and Boeing to sell jetliners to Iran will be revoked, but that certain exemptions will be negotiated.
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12:30 p.m.
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it was clear from the beginning that the Americans were “not trustworthy” and that the move would have no impact.
The semi-official Fars news agency on Wednesday quoted Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari as predicting that the European Union, which opposed the pullout, would eventually join the U.S., meaning the “the fate of the deal is clear.”
He is quoted as saying: “We welcome Trump’s decision on pulling out of the deal. This is not a new event and has no effective role in any field.” He added that “it was clear that the Americans are not trustworthy.”
Trump on Tuesday announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the international deal and restore sanctions on Iran, leaving the future of the agreement in doubt.
The Revolutionary Guard is a paramilitary force dominated by hard-liners, which answers directly to Iran’s supreme leader.
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12:10 p.m.
German multinational Siemens says it will abide by any sanctions on Iran but is waiting to see how the international community reacts to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal.
CFO Ralf Thomas told reporters on a conference call Wednesday that Siemens, which has multi-billion euro (dollar) contracts with Iran for rail, power plant and other projects, was currently assessing the possible impact.
He says “we will always comply and adhere to all relevant export control regulations,” but “we are waiting for guidance from the international community.”
Thomas says in the big picture, Siemens’ Iranian business was “immaterial to the company” but that “we take note that one of the most important industrial countries on the planet has reached a political decision.”
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12:05 p.m.
France says the Iranian nuclear accord is “not dead” despite the U.S. withdrawal and that European countries will hold talks with Iran to find ways to keep it alive.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday on RTL radio that “the risks of confrontation are real” after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the landmark agreement.
Le Drian said “we are ready to work on a widened accord” that would address Trump’s concerns about the 2015 deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He said he and his British and German counterparts will meet Monday with Iranian representatives to discuss next steps.
Airbus, Renault and other French and European companies risk problems after resuming business with Iran following the 2015 deal, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.
French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss Mideast tensions at a special security meeting Wednesday and is expected to talk with Iranian President Rouhani in the coming hours.
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11:30 a.m.
The European Union’s envoy to China says the Iran nuclear deal will not “fall apart” despite the United States withdrawing from the landmark accord.
Ambassador Hans Dietmar Schweisgut said Wednesday that the EU believes “this is an agreement which belongs to the international community.”
Speaking during a press briefing in Beijing, he said: “This is not an agreement that will fall apart if you just walk away.”
Negotiated by the Obama administration, the 2015 accord included EU members Germany, France and Britain, and had lifted most U.S. and international economic sanctions against Iran. In exchange, Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program, making it impossible to produce a bomb and establishing rigorous inspections.
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal on Tuesday and restored harsh sanctions against Iran.
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10:40 a.m.
China’s special envoy for the Middle East is urging all parties to adhere to the Iran nuclear deal and solve the dispute through dialogue.
China’s Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday that Gong Xiaosheng spoke at a press conference in Iran after meeting with Iranian officials, saying the multilateral deal is “very serious and important.”
Gong says the deal helps maintain the international nuclear non-proliferation system and promotes peace and stability in the Middle East, and that the integrity of the agreement must be observed.
Gong says: “Having a deal is better than no deal. Dialogue is better than confrontation.”
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the United States would withdraw from the international deal and restore sanctions on Iran, leaving the future of the agreement in doubt.
China was a co-signer of the agreement, along with Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
___
10:15 a.m.
A prominent Iranian lawmaker says parliament is preparing to increase spending on the country’s ballistic missile program.
The head of Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, made the comments Wednesday after President Donald Trump’s decision to pull America out of the nuclear deal.
One of Trump’s criticisms of the deal has been the fact it does not address Iran’s missile program.
Boroujerdi said: “With America’s decision, Iran’s missile program will not change at all.”
___
9:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal is dominating newspaper front pages and discussions across Iran, with some saying the accord will go on “without the troublemaker.”
Iranian moderate newspapers on Wednesday sought to buoy embattled President Hassan Rouhani, with the daily newspaper Asr-e Eghtesad proclaiming: “Iran’s diplomacy has blunted Trump’s blade.”
The state-run IRNA news agency referred to Trump as “the troublemaker.” Meanwhile, the hard-line daily Kayhan went with: “Trump tears apart the nuclear deal; It is time to set it afire!”
President Hassan Rouhani warned Tuesday that Iran could restart enriching uranium “without any limitations” within weeks, after President Donald Trump pulled America out of the nuclear deal, though the Iranian leader said world powers still in the accord could potentially save the pact.
___
9:45 a.m.
Iran’s parliament speaker is saying his country will evaluate the European Union’s ability to protect the nuclear deal.
In an opening speech Wednesday expressing pessimism about future of the deal, Ali Larijani said: “The period is only a window in which the EU can prove if it has enough weight for settling down international issues or not?”
He also said that Iran will examine diplomatic ways at first, but he also urged the country’s nuclear department to prepare for “resumption of all aspects of nuclear activities.”
Larijani added Iran is not after hasty “reaction and adventurism.”
___
9:35 a.m.
Iranian lawmakers have set a paper U.S. flag ablaze at parliament after President Donald Trump’s nuclear deal pullout, shouting, “Death to America!”
Lawmakers held the impromptu demonstration inside parliament on Wednesday, the day after Trump’s decision. They also burned a piece of paper representing the nuclear deal.
The chant “Death to America” long has been used in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also has been common to hear it within parliament.
However, Wednesday’s demonstration shows the public anger coursing through Iran after Trump’s decision.
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By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)
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March 28, 2021
My roundup of things I am to this week. Topics include dimethyl ether, milage taxes, scout mindset, and environmentalism vs. ecologism.
Dimethyl Ether
Dimethyl ether (DME) is a fuel that can be produced fairly easy by dehydration of methanol. It functions as a substitute for diesel that can be used with relatively little modification of engines, and thus it may be an effective alternative for shipping and trucking. It’s probably not dense enough for aviation, though. I mentioned DME in passing last week, and this week I took a closer look.
Most methanol in the United States is, in turn, produced from steam methane reforming of natural gas. It’s fairly cheap compared to diesel, about 15-20% less expensive at 2019 prices when the lower fuel economy of DME is taken into account. Yes, DME is only a bit more than half as energy dense by volume and 10% less dense by mass, and in addition, for a given amount of energy, DME trucks are about 10-15% less fuel efficient than diesel trucks.
On a per-BTU basis, DME produced from natural gas reformed methane is not quite as greenhouse gas-intensive as diesel, but accounting for the lower fuel economy, DME comes in a few percentage points higher by my estimation (about 4%). It’s fair to call them as about the same. The big advantage of DME is reduction of other air pollutants, particularly NOx and unburned hydrocarbons. It also helps to move pollutants out of interstates and into factories that are more isolated from population centers.
Unlike electrofuels, which are prohibitively expensive for the time being, lower carbon methanol isn’t too expensive. The IEA estimates that applying carbon capture and sequestration to gas reformed methanol cuts emissions by about 2/3, and I estimate that doing so would have a carbon abatement cost of about $14/ton, which is well within the range of most proposed carbon pricing schemes and mainstream estimates of the social cost of carbon. Methanol by electrolysis has a carbon abatement cost of about $160/ton in my estimation, which is doable but quite expensive.
I noted a few weeks ago that catenary wires for trucks might work in corridors where truck density is strong and where diesel prices are high, but it is hard to make the case in the United States. Tesla’s electric semi looks appealing, and maybe it will work well, but battery density doesn’t seem to be there yet. Hydrogen trucking looks appealing as well, but the concept took a major hit with the apparent fraud of Nikola Motors, and I don’t see a strong alternative. DME looks like the most readily available option to reduce air pollution from trucking, and by decarbonizing methanol production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well.
Milage Taxes
Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, made a statement in support of milage pricing and brought up debate on that topic.
Historically, road transportation funding has been driven by a user fee in the form of a gas tax. However, gas taxes have not kept up with road construction and maintenance costs, meaning that an ever growing share of highway funding is from the general fund. With the expectation that electric vehicles will become more common, an alternative is needed. A per-mile tax on driving makes sense as a substitute.
We should be careful, though, to understand the basis for taxation here. First, there is the user fee model, or the very reasonable principle that the users of road infrastructure should pay (at least part of) the cost. Similar principles are at work with development costs on new construction, airports, train stations, and other infrastructure. In this regard, a gas tax is a subsidy for electric vehicles, since EVs impose road costs but don’t pay the gas tax. But advocates of continuing to subsidize EVs support keeping the status quo for exactly this reason.
Congestion pricing may look similar to a milage fee, but it differs in the basis for taxation, as congestion pricing is meant to charge drivers for the external cost of congestion that they impose on other drivers, as opposed to the cost of roads. Pigouvian pollution taxes on drivers is yet another basis for taxation, and maybe the one area where there is justification for treating EVs differently from combustion cars.
I’m looking forward to doing more research in this topic.
Scout Mindset
I recently watched some material from Julia Galef, who talks about several issues related to probabilistic and rational reasoning, but in particular soldier vs. scout mindset. Here’s a short talk, and a longer talk at the Long Now Foundation. I’d recommend the shorter version at least for starters.
Soldier mindset is the idea that a person has to be epistemically confident to achieve goals and attract followers. It is the idea of promoting a given idea and is highly associated with religions or political groups. Scout mindset is a higher degree of epistemic uncertainty and the idea that the goal is to find the truth of a matter, rather than to promote a view. Julia is a proponent of scout mindset as a more appropriate way to determine truth, and she rejects much of the purported advantage of soldier mindset in achieving goals.
I like to hear this, as a major premise of my work with Urban Cruise Ship is that I (and most people) don’t know the best environmental solutions from the outset and we have to invest the effort to figure them out.
Environmentalism vs. Ecologism
Bernie Sanders tossed a rock into the hornet’s nest this week recycling the old argument that we shouldn’t invest in space exploration, even (or in his case, especially) private investment, if problems remain on Earth. The debate parallels, and in many ways is a subset of, a debate in environmentalism.
I take environmentalism to be any belief system that calls for the protection of the non-human environment. This is a broad term, as environmentalism can be motivated by human concerns, concern for the natural world per se, and encompasses a wide range of issues including air pollution, climate change, land use, animal welfare, and so on.
Ecologism is a related but distinct worldview. There are at least two definitions of ecologism that I am aware of that are themselves distinct but related. The first, which I think is the most common viewpoint by self-described advocates, is the belief that the natural world is valuable and should be preserved for its own sake. It is articulated by, e.g. Aldo Leopold, and is something I would label ecocentrism. The second view, not one often described by advocates and so maybe a pejorative term, is the belief that human activity, whether wealth, population, new technology, industry, or capitalism, needs to be restrained, often for environmental goals. Robert Zubrin refers to ecologism in this sense. In this latter sense, we can further distinguish between descriptive antigrowth views, often pejoratively labeled as Malthusianism, and prescriptive views.
Even if the term is not so common, ideas such as degrowth, population control, and ecosocialism are fairly common in the environmental literature. Furthermore, outside some factions such as ecomodernism, it is not common for environmentalists to explicitly reject ideas in ecologism, leading many of us to wonder if these ideas are implicitly endorsed by environmentalists when not commented upon.
Critics of environmental policy frequently conflate the two as well. Organizations such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute argue that global warming is a hoax, advanced by ecologic advocates as a pretext for their broader agenda. I don’t think this is accurate, but I can understand the suspicions that would give rise to such a belief.
For those environmentalists who disagree with ecologic views, I would like to see more explicit distancing. Although ecologism is generally framed in environmental terms, it does little to help environmental outcomes, and in many ways hinders environmental outcomes when ecologism is, for instance, invoked against nuclear power, GMOs, or dense cities. Ecologism alienates a great number of people who might otherwise be on board with environmental objectives. Last but not least, ecologism has advanced in a great many areas of policy and could advance further, and in so doing could do as much damage to human well-being as communism or fascism, and this is something that needs to be pushed back on.
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