General Musings thread

[Spen]

I heard missile detection. Supposed to be two of them in the same location but I've only seen one. Anyone seen two? If not maybe they rotate them?

 

Supposedly they can 'see' an area the size of Texas.

[cravnravn]

I don't think I seen two, seen the one in joppatowne at my daughter's, then went to visit my aunt in middle river and seen it, I figure it was the same one.

[deeshopper]

Hmm. Perhaps that's what I saw last weekend as I was traveling toward Baltimore on I-70. Is it possible to see it from that far away? I thought it was a blimp, but it looked a little smaller than one.

[dc.]

Probably could see it from 70 but would be pretty far away. And yes looks like a smaller blimp, all white, and a bit weird shaped with bigger "fins"... First time I saw it I thought UFO because it was at an odd angle so I thought it was a saucer... Lol

[cravnravn]

Funny is my daughters boyfriend thinks its the govt spying on us lol,

[dc.]

He's not alone. Plenty of people think there are some ulterior motives.

[Spen]

I was surprised to learn that its about the size of a football field. Trick of the distance and height makes it look smaller.

[cravnravn]

Jesus, then how large is the goodyear blimp

[papasmurfbell]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Blimp

 

According to the Goodyear website, the two active GZ-20 blimps are 192 feet (58 meters) long, 59.5 feet (18 meters) tall, and 50 feet (15 meters) wide. For comparison, the largest airships ever built, the Zeppelin company's Hindenburg, LZ-129, and the Graf Zeppelin II, LZ-130, were 804 feet (245 meters) long and 135 feet (41 meters) in diameter. That is, over four times as long and over twice as wide as the current Goodyear blimps. The largest blimp ever made by Goodyear was the U.S. Navy's ZPG-3, at 403 feet (121 meters) in length.

[papasmurfbell]

https://www.facebook.com/wftv/videos/vb.72447968144/10153141566733145/?type=2&theater

Simply amazing vid

[cravnravn]

We've had some epoxy lightening storms and rain fall in Daytona.

[dc.]

Not sure how many have seen this story floating around the last 48 hours - getting some press nationally, in part because of the selfie-stick. But the "hero in orange shorts" - Tommy - is a good family friend. Just about the coolest guy I know and not surprised he was in there to get them. He practically runs a triathlon every day in OC... just to pass the time.

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/oc-blog/bal-ocean-city-riptide-20150710-story.html

[cravnravn]

Whoa Jared, you sick fuck, you about to get all the foot longs you can handle. Hope you enjoy it bitch..

[Spen]

What a pathetically light sentence Shattuck got.

[cravnravn]

What a pathetically light sentence Shattuck got.

What??? That kid should be slapped

[dc.]

Classically out of date, crav. "if the kid liked it, it can't be a crime!"

 

I agree, Spen... Though my bet is that it's because she was really only found guilty of statutory crimes. Still not an excuse

[Spen]

What??? That kid should be slapped

 

Why do you even think he thought she was pretty? She was 47, he was 15. He probably thought of her as an old lady.

[cravnravn]

Come on now it Molly the MILF, I thought she was pretty hot when she was cheerleading

[oldcrow]

dirty old man

[dc.]

Those blimps... http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/federal-workplace/bs-md-blimps-20150924-story.html

[Spen]

Those blimps... http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/federal-workplace/bs-md-blimps-20150924-story.html

Great.

 

I was actually momentarily excited the first time I saw both in the air at the same time.

[dc.]

A few paragraphs that show the problem in our system...

 

Army leaders tried to kill JLENS in 2010. What happened next illustrates the difficulty of ending even a deeply troubled defense program.

 

Raytheon mobilized its congressional lobbyists. Within the Pentagon, Marine Corps Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to JLENS' defense, arguing that it held promise for enhancing the nation's air defenses.

 

At Cartwright's urging, money was found in 2011 for a trial run of the technology in the skies above Washington.

 

Cartwright retired the same year and joined Raytheon's board of directors five months later. By the end of 2014, Raytheon had paid him more than $828,000 in cash and stock for serving as a director, Securities and Exchange Commission records show.

[cravnravn]

Wtf, my paper got delivered. The Spanish version.

[dc.]

Bienvenido a Florida, amigo.

[thundercleetz]

Bienvenido a Florida, amigo.

Speaking of Spanish, I had an interesting moment this week. I traveled to St. Louis for work. All the TSA announcements to the concourse were in English only. When I get back to BWI the announcements are in English and Spanish. Further, when I would travel to New Orleans announcements would be in English, Spanish and French. Just found all that interesting.

 

I'm of the opinion that English and Spanish should be co-official languages of the country. It is stupid to ignore population and regional demographics. I took Latin in high school, which I don't regret because I had an awesome teacher, but I should have taken Spanish in addition.

 

I remember Clinton said back in 2000 that he thought he was going to be the last president that didn't speak Spanish. In fact, he said it in response to Republicans at the time having success reaching Latino voters. Funny how times have changed in such a short period of time.