Trigger warnings: Delilah S. Dawson on why she writes what she does, and why she won't make the uncomfortable more palatable. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
"According to both Fidelity and research done by Aon Hewitt and the University of Georgia, in order to maintain our standard of living post-retirement, we need to have saved at least 11 times our income by age 65. That means saving 15 percent to 17 percent of income across your working life." The coming retirement crisis. This is why Social Security reform is necessary (although all the proposals from the right would effectively kill it). Or we need to have a basic income proposal. Also note that 401(k)s (which were never intended for the populace) aren't prepared for this, and you can't save more than 10% of your income (except for "catch up" rules which don't apply until you're older). Here comes the hard place, now it's time to see how solid that rock is.
An aircraft carrier is an exceeding complex piece of machinery with lots of moving parts. One of those parts helps launch aircraft into the air. So, how does one test such a system? Using a $70M F18? Hell no. How about a few old trucks. Sure, there were lots of serious faces and data gathering going on, but I can bet that there were a number of raucous cheers as well. (Grokked from Dan)
Why does the military still pursue the F-35 even though it's the most expensive and complicate aircraft purchase program? Because the F-35s (flying with F-22s) just scored a 15-1 kill ratio during Red Flag. And our current president thinks we should trash it and order more F-18 Super Hornets. Yeah. What's not stated in that article is that Red Team (the opposition) are not fresh candidates out for a spin in their F-16s. Red Team are drawn from from the top pilots and operators. They typically crush Blue Team at the beginning until the kids can catch up. What that means is the F-35 system is a disruptive entry into air superiority. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
Why don't we work with Assad in Syria? "A newly released report by Amnesty International alleges a widespread and systematic attack by Syria's government against its civilian population, including murder, torture, enforced disappearances and extermination carried out at a military prison called Saydnaya." Because he's a murderer.
"At the beginning of March, the FBI will no longer accept FOIA requests via email. Instead, requesters will have to rely on fax machines and standard mail ('snail mail') in order to communicate with the agency’s records management division." Well, that (and the attendant costs charged to the requestors) should slow things down sufficiently. Or as friends once said, "It's 2010, who lists fax numbers on their business cards anymore." Actually a lot of government and health care institutions rely on faxes (especially when networks go down). (Grokked from Dan)
"During Monday’s morning meeting, Conway, multiple sources said, shrugged off the concerns from thousands of people jamming phone lines critical of Trump's Cabinet nominees, explaining that she's more worried about her own 'RPI' or 'Real Person Impact' meter." Apparently we all aren't real people to this administration. Could this finally be the "let them eat cake" moment (they're starting to pile up). Also noted because they're figuring it (how to get work done) out. That could mean more problems ahead. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
"President Donald Trump accused 'Obama people' of leaking less-than-favorable details about his tense phone calls with Australian and Mexican leaders, calling the leakers 'disgraceful' in an interview with Fox News published Monday." Not that he's disputing what they've said, but just that they aren't "his people" as it were.
The Trump administration released a list of terrorist attacks that the media hasn't focused on. So they don't think the media focused on the San Bernardino attack, the Paris attack, but a lot of attacks throughout the world. You know, they things we focused on for weeks at a time. Also, apparently, the document is riddled with misspellings. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
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