Tag: travel

United Airlines Flight Attendant Makes ‘Airplane Mashed Potatoes.’ Why Is Everyone So Horrified?

Before I post the article, I want to ask, WTF happened to flight attendants? It used to be glamorous, and they had to make a weight every month or be suspended. They used to be cute and nice. Just like the rest of the air travel experience, it’s all gone downhill.

There is also the joke about how many straight men flight attendants does it take to screw in a light bulb. The answer is both of them.

I’ve had friends and relatives have this job since the 1950’s. It has turned into a flying cocktail waitress, Coke serving group with an attitude. The other thing that I noticed is that to a person, every one of them, men and women, were cheaters, including my then girlfriend. I found out about it after I dumped her for being a cnut. Even my Aunt met my Uncle when he was married to someone else. Other than my friend Rick, I found them all to be not smart enough to get a job other than being an air hostess. Even then, the best he could do was be on the phone, in tech support.

Flying used to be a good experience. Maybe if you are a first-class flyer with lots of miles, it’s better, but who wants to fly that much? It’s a cattle call now on dirty airplanes that are poorly maintained, flown by pilots who were forced to take the Covid Jab. That makes them more susceptible than most to heart issues because of the altitude.

Now this:

Some days just call for mashed potatoes. But what if you’re 30,000 feet in the air?

No problem. A United Airlines flight attendant has got your mashed potato-needing back. All you need is a few items carried on many commercial flights. Then presto! mashed potatoes.

Well, sort of.

United Airlines attendant Rachel (@rachelleahtia) shared her secret for getting that potato fix mid-air. The recipe is inspiring shock and horror.

Rachel’s recipe, posted on TikTok, is simple: Crush Pringles potato chips in a can (though probably any potato chip would do), and add water, coffee creamer, and salt and pepper—all items readily available on many flights.

She describes the mashed concoction as “a lil ghetto but it tastes good.” She noted that she wasn’t on duty at the time.

For most observers, it’s giving prison.

“So now we’re making prison food on airplanes?” wrote one.

“Baby… I know you don’t have a new contract yet, but you not in jail,” a second said.

More

How Is This Legal? Drinking and Driving In Florida

‘How Is This Legal?’: Tampa Bay Woman Pulls Up To Drive-Thru. Then She Proves Why Florida ‘Isn’t A Real Place’

If you know, you know: Florida is more than a glorious, sun-drenched vacation land. It’s a weird and chaotic, semi-lawless-feeling place dangling off of the edge of America. And for Maddy (@maddy.1414), who lives in Tampa Bay, that is exactly why she swears it’s not even a “real place.”

In a TikTok video that’s been watched over 689,000 times, Maddy spotlights one of the quirkiest, most counterintuitive things about life in Florida. And shockingly, it has nothing to do with alligators or the Brightline. It’s all about drive-thru drinks. 

One For The Road, Literally

“Florida is not a real state,” says Maddy in the intro to her video. Sure, she’s going hard, but she promises to back up her claim with evidence. The video then cuts to her ordering at a drive-thru. “Can I just get one espresso martini?” she says.

A voice replies, “Yeah, sure thing.”

She pulls around to the window. But while waiting, she speaks directly into the camera again. “OK, if you know me, you know that I always say Florida isn’t a real state because you can do things here that you shouldn’t be able to legally do,” she says.

MY STORY FROM YEARS AGO

When a stupid youth in high school and college, I remember going through the brew-threw to get a six pack for the beach or wherever I was going. They were available in Orlando and along the beach. We had fake IDs and just cruised in and out. The best thing I ever did was move out of that state. That meant splitting a six-pack to the beach and another one on the way home. It was only a one hour drive away. I could have blown the limit by double, which was higher back then. That business made a killing. We’d have to wait in line for our turn, it was so busy, any time of day. I think they finally passed a law to stop it, but I haven’t been there in years.

How I’m alive is beyond me.

Now, when I see a Florida tag in my current state, I steer clear because I know it’s a bad driver. The minute you cross the border from Georgia, people pass in the right lane. The old people get into the fast lane and drive slowly. They also drive into pools in South Florida fairly regularly

Now, If I have to go out with my brother-in-law to dinner, he has a cocktail, a bottle of wine, and an after dinner drink. I gave it up 30 years ago, yet he drives because I don’t know where I’m going where they live, and he thinks he’s a big shot. How he doesn’t have a DUI or a broken neck is beyond me. It’s why I avoid my family when possible. I also won’t drive with him anymore.

If I’m a cat, I’ve used up 8 lives.

Political Memes

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6 Revenge is best served cold, like she left the people of Western North Carolina

7 – Nancy Pelosi anyone? Chuck Schumer? Mitch McConnell?

8 – In case you wondered or were a sympathizer

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11 – What is ironic is that he sucked at hoops. He went 2 for 20 on camera to show off his skills. Further, MJ said he was a hack at golf also.

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18 – Western North Carolina and Fema

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Headlines: BWBB Goes Berserk On Cop, 1 of 1 Ferrari Hits The Auction Block, The High Cost Of Sleepless Nights, White Collar Crime, Trannies Attack Feminists…and more

Crime

Habitual Traffic Offender Goes Berserk on Cop Outside Charter School, Bites Officer — Bystanders Also Arrested Under Florida’s New ‘Halo Law’

Racism

This Is What True Racism Looks Like Today

Cars

1-Of-1 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, Bianco Speciale, Is Headed to Mecum Kissimee – Probably $50 million for this one

Antifa (And Lying)

Dem Minn AG Keith Ellison Claims ‘Nobody Knows’ What Antifa Is After He Promoted Their Handbook in 2018

Health

The High Cost of Sleepless Nights: Poor Sleep Linked to Prematurely Aging Brains

Measure Metabolic Health, Resting Heart Rate Measurement

Agriculture

States Go It Alone on ‘Forever Chemicals’ as EPA Delays Federal Action

Dark Money Funding

Exposed: British Billionaire Cuts off $553M Left-Wing Funding Operation After Watchdog Report

Left-Wing Dark Money Megadonors Including George Soros Spent $20 MILLION to Oppose Trump’s National Guard Deployment in D.C.

Universities Took Over $60 BILLION in Foreign Gifts to Fund Radical Left Programs

Lithium Battery Danger

The World Is Slowly Waking Up to the Menace of Lithium Battery Fires

White Collar Fraud

The $483,000 Question: How James Directed Funds to the Governor’s Husband’s Firm Before Her $10M Shield…

Feminism, I Think

PROTECT WOMEN: Out-of-Control Trans Activists Vandalize Europe’s Largest Feminist Conference Happening in the UK – I’m not even sure who is right here

Maga

Operation Divide MAGA – another attempt to attack Trump’s base

Poverty

Over 1 Billion People Live In Slums – and where they are in the world

Anti-Semitism

Handwritten Hamas memo exposes scripted nature of Oct. 7 rampage

Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut Hopes for a Comeback Victory in Annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

It’s baaaack!. The annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. I watch it as it grosses out my wife, but I can’t believe how many dogs they can eat in 10 minutes.

I’ve been a fan since Kobayashi made it famous when a skinny punk from Japan killed the competition. It was around the same time as Ken Jennings streak on Jeopardy.

The Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest is back, and famed competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut is hoping for a comeback 17th win on Friday.

The 41-year-old, from Westfield, Indiana, was not in last year’s event due to a contract dispute involving a deal he had struck with a competing brand, the plant-based meat company Impossible Foods. But now he’s back, saying things have been ironed out.

Patrick Bertoletti, of Chicago, won the title in Chestnut’s absence and is the defending men’s champion.

In the women’s competition, defending champion Miki Sudo, 39, of Tampa, Florida, is the favorite this year and is seeking her 11th title. Last year she downed a record 51 dogs.

The annual gastronomic battle, which dates back to 1972, is held in front of the original Nathan’s Famous’ restaurant at New York’s Coney Island and draws large crowds of fans, many in foam hot dog hats.

Competitors in the men’s and women’s categories chow down as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. They are allowed to dunk the dogs in cups of water to soften them up, creating a stomach-churning spectacle.

The 15 men in the competition hail from across the U.S. and internationally, including Australia, Czech Republic, Canada, England, and Brazil.

The 13 women competitors are all Americans.

Chestnut set the world record of eating 76 wieners and buns in 10 minutes on July 4, 2021. He has won a record 16 Mustard Belts. Instead of appearing in New York last year, Chestnut ate 57 dogs — in only five minutes — in an exhibition with soldiers, in El Paso, Texas.

story

don’t forget, you’re disqualified for a reversal of fortune, or not holding down the dogs.

WATCH: Planes Nearly Collide On Major Airport’s Runway In Shocking Clip

A dramatic near-miss at Chicago’s Midway Airport forced a Southwest Airlines plane to abort its landing after a small jet unexpectedly crossed the runway.

A video of the shocking incident has surfaced, showing the Southwest aircraft performing a last-second “touch and go” maneuver to avoid disaster.

The close call is reminiscent of a similar situation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in December, when a Delta jet nearly collided with a plane carrying the Gonzaga men’s basketball team.

The Midway incident adds to a growing list of aviation scares in 2025. While data shows air travel remains statistically safe, a series of crashes and near-misses have raised public concern.

WATCH:

This year’s aviation chaos started January 29, when a mid-air collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killed all 67 people aboard an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.

The crash, which occurred during the plane’s final approach to Reagan National Airport, is under investigation by the NTSB, with early findings pointing to possible air traffic control failures, miscommunication, and the helicopter flying at an incorrect altitude.

The tragedy deeply impacted the figure skating community, as several young skaters and their families were among the victims. Meanwhile, a victim’s family has filed a $250 million lawsuit against the FAA and the U.S. Army, citing negligence. The incident, along with recent aviation safety concerns, has led to a decline in public confidence in air travel.

More recently, a Delta Connection flight from Minneapolis flipped upside down while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on February 17, with 80 people on board. While all passengers survived, 21 were injured, including a child and two adults who were initially in critical condition.

Delta offered each passenger $30,000 as compensation, though at least one survivor has since filed a lawsuit against the airline. Investigators are looking into weather conditions and crew experience as possible factors in the crash.

Here are some of the most notable aviation incidents this year:

  • January 29 – The devastating crash in Washington, D.C., resulted in 67 fatalities.
  • January 31 – A medevac jet crashed in Philadelphia, killing seven people.
  • February 6 – A regional airline flight in Nome, Alaska, went down, claiming 10 lives.
  • February 14 – A fatal crash in Pierson, Florida, took the life of the pilot.

In total, 88 people have died in seven aviation incidents in the U.S. in 2025, according to Fox4.

click to watch as I couldn’t download the clip off the site, but it’s close enough to say the pilot saved this one.

FAA’s Obama-Era “Biographical Questionnaire” for DIE Faces New Scrutiny After the D.C. Crash

As The Daily Signal previously reported, under President Barack Obama’s administration, the FAA scrapped a skills-based test and a certification program, and replaced it with a biographical questionnaire to attract more diverse applicants to become air traffic controllers. The FAA previously drew most candidates from the military and a group of 36 colleges that offer air traffic control programs.

“The Obama administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence,” the Trump memorandum says. “But the Biden administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”

The memorandum continues: “On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard. [Wednesday’s] devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”

Critics have said the policy that originated under Obama and was revived by former President Joe Biden gives more points to applicants who have not been employed for the past three years than to an applicant who has been a pilot or a veteran with an air traffic control-related military background. During his first term, Trump discarded the policy in 2018, but Biden reinstated it.

“When you are flying on an airplane with your loved ones—which everyone of us in this room has—do you pray that your plane lands safely and gets you to your destination?” Leavitt asked reporters rhetorically on Friday. “Or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin color? I think we all know the answer to that question. As President Trump said yesterday, it’s common sense.”

The spokeswoman said the Trump administration still believes it is safe to fly in the United States. Still, she said, the memorandum is intended to “deliver accountability.”

story

Woke and DEI ruin everything they touch, every damn time

The Special Joys Of Living In Canada – Polar Bear Fighting

A man in Canada’s far north leapt on to a polar bear to protect his wife from being mauled, police say.

The unnamed man suffered serious injuries but is expected to recover, according to the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service.

The couple left their house at around 05:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Tuesday to find their dogs, when a bear – which was in the driveway of their home – lunged at the woman.

The incident happened in Fort Severn First Nation, a small community of about 400 people in the far north of Ontario.

“The woman slipped to ground as her husband leapt on to the animal to prevent its attack,” police said in a statement. “The bear then attacked the male, causing serious but non-life-threatening injuries to his arm and legs.”

A neighbour arrived with a gun and shot the bear several times. It retreated into nearby woods where it died of its injuries.

The man was transported to a community nursing station where he was treated for his injuries.

Nishnawbe Aski police said they “continued to patrol the area to ensure no other bears were roaming the community”.

Alysa McCall, a scientist at Polar Bear International, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that polar bears rarely attack humans.

When an attack occurs, the bear is often hungry, young and unwell, she said.

Normally the bears are far from human settlements, instead preferring to spend their time at sea hunting ice seals. But climate change has led to temperature fluctuations, breaking up ice and in some cases driving bears inland to look for food.

“If you’re attacked by a polar bear, definitely do not play dead — that is a myth,” she told CBC. “Fight as long as you can.”

story

Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?

Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?

I grew up in Central Florida and spent the summers at the beach. It was the days before crowds and huge Condos. I lived another 2 decades in South Florida where the beach was minutes away and I took advantage of it. There were huge condos and large parking queues to get there.

I enjoyed my time there and loved it when I went.

Either my family or I owned a beach house for 4 decades so I’m quite familiar with that environment. It’s just like going to Disney, but with sand in everything.

Now, the last decade has been spent in the mountains. I’ve done both for a long time.

It’s the mountains now by a lot. Just the drive alone getting there is worth it as the view is awesome, instead of a boring flat traffic-laden drive to where everyone else is going.

I got tired of the heat, sand, tourists, and traffic that comes with the beach.

In the mountains, I can get away with no people, less traffic and when it’s 100 percent humidity and over 90 degrees at the beach, I’m enjoying the 70 degree weather. There are fewer tourists (fewer assholes) and the peace and quiet is worth it.

Maybe it’s just me, but this is an easy decision. I get to spend my summers in the beauty of what is God’s Country. They never say that about the beach.

I never think about the beach anymore, especially in the summer. I always want to get away to the mountains.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve lost and found?

What is the most interesting thing you’ve lost and found?

I was trout fishing in Denmark with my wife’s Brothers (I refer to them as her family as I don’t like being related to American bashers). At the height of my fishing prowess, I’d caught and released many fish while they were still rigging poles.

At some point during the day, one of my wife’s brothers lost another lure (he lost them all). I had been slaying the fish on a lucky red spinner so I gave it to him so he could catch something. Just like the rest, he lost that one also. I thought the fishing gods were against me and I’d be cursed the rest of the day. I have to admit I was a little pissed to have lost the best lure in my box. Having purchased it in America, I knew I wouldn’t be able to replace it like for like. I didn’t catch much the rest of the day.

At some point, we decided to have lunch and left one pole out just in case. My young son had come with my wife by that time and we ate leisurely.

I noticed the rod bending over and gave it to my son to reel in a very nice one. To my surprise, as I removed the lure from his mouth, I asked who had the extra red spinner they baited the hook with, and didn’t tell me.

As it turned out, the actual lure that caught the fish was still in its mouth, and on the other side was my lucky spinner. There may have been hundreds of fish in the lake and to catch the fish with the lure was remarkable. It was attached to a short piece of line so I knew it was the exact one as you couldn’t buy them in Denmark.

I put it away and decided to never fish with it again. I put it in a picture box of memories and knick-knacks on the wall and it sits there today.

What Are Your Future Travel Plans?

What are your future travel plans?

I’m doing it right now.

Instead of waiting at an airport with flights canceled by computer glitches, I’m up in the mountains where it is 30 degrees warmer than home. The food is grown on organic farms nearby and traffic is rare. The only sound I hear while typing this is birds chirping and my dog is at my feet.

I traveled for business for many decades. It was a time when you got service and comfort. Those are long gone now replaced by inconvenience and a general lack of concern by the service and travel industries.

There isn’t much to make me want to get on another cattle car to go wait in lines.

I also grew up in Central Florida before Disney World was built. I watched people pay exorbitant prices to wait for hours in the blazing sun for hours. I went at night or in the 2 weeks that are the Florida winter when my friends who worked there gave me tickets. That isn’t my idea of fun either.

I’d still like to hear from those who like it. It counter balances my position

How To Override A Hotel Thermostat

modern hotel thermostats are, in a word, a pain. Well over a decade ago, we noticed the kind of thermostat where you were supposed to put your room key into a slot to keep the air conditioning (and sometimes the electricity!) running, which meant when you were out of the room, your A/C wouldn’t run and when you got back, the room would be uncomfortable. That one was easy to override because just about ANY card worked in the slot ;-).

As modern technology got more advanced, they started building motion sensors into hotel thermostats, which meant that not only did you have to be in the room for the A/C to work, you had to be moving around…so if you were sleeping and woke up in the middle of the night, the room could be uncomfortable because unless they were sleepwalking, no one had moved around in several hours.

And then there are the thermostats with upper or lower limits that you can’t bypass so the room won’t get warmer or colder than the hotel wants. Oh great, that way we can be uncomfortable in our room while we’re wide awake, too!

Fortunately, electronic-savvy travelers have made it their business to figure out how to override these nuisance thermostats so we can be in our hotel rooms more comfortably. Here are some hacks we’ve found (only found; we haven’t “invented” any) for some of the most popular brands at some of the more popular hotels:

NOTE #1: Of course, the hotels don’t want you to mess with their thermostats. Besides potentially using up more energy than the hotel intended, you run the risk of breaking their thermostat, like these people did – and frankly, the hotel may or may not hold you responsible for the repair bill. Your Mileage May Vary as to whether it’s a good idea or not to try to bypass the controls set by the hotel – but if you think it’s OK, here are some ways to do it.

rest of the instructions by a/c type

Yep, That Really Makes Me Want To Fly

I already don’t trust the planes mechanically

Eating Alone As An Introvert

This will seem matter of fact for those who are introverts because it’s as normal as waking up. I thought that I’d write down the journey that I took to discover this pleasure.

Before I knew I was introverted (although I suspected it) I was traveling for business in the IT industry. My job rarely required a team so I found myself traveling alone a lot. While there was some sense of anticipation before the trip (that I’d learn to loathe), the return home was a recover trip from the people I had to deal with either in groups or one on one.

Inevitably, this would find me in an airport lounge/restaurant or a hotel before or after my business meeting with no one else in town. I’d already flown for hours while reading a book (before movies on flights and well before wifi), so dinner was just an extension of that.

I suppose I could have sought out others, but it was simpler and easier to eat and go back to preparing for my meeting or whatever the agenda was the next day. The people I was meeting usually lived in the city I was visiting so they had families. Once business was done, I had wrapped up any further association in my mind. If I had multiple meetings, I needed to plan for the next day so it was dinner alone usually.

I love to read and books have been my best friend before video games or electronic distractions on trips (and still are). I’d get lost on a spy novel and was identifying as the protagonist by mid flight on my way out of town. I was imagining myself as Edward X. Delaney, Jason Bourne or Mitch Rapp depending on the decade

To continue reading while eating seemed normal to me. I didn’t know it wasn’t, until people I worked with thought it was odd for me to order a table for one. Some of them refused to eat if they had to do it alone, but I wanted to eat and to not be bothered by conversation that was just banter. I could also be finished on my schedule rather than putting up with someone else’s agenda.

By now, I’d realized that if I ate alone, I didn’t have to mess with others during or afterwards. It started to become a pattern for me.

I also worked on the trade show tour, meaning you’d have to spend a week with people you never associated with back in your home city. It seemed obvious to me that I didn’t really want to eat with them, although protocol forced me to at times.

Since trade shows tended to be in towns with night life, like Las Vegas, at the end of the day the extroverts couldn’t wait to rev up to some drinking, gambling and other cavorting. I’ll get to that later.

As I transitioned to Analyst Relations, there were conferences that resembled the structure of a trade show. Work all day together and then be stuck in a city not home to anyone and most gravitated to socializing including eating together.

DRINKING

Alcohol is the grease in the gears of socializing. It turns introverts into extroverts if only even for a night. I did imbibe early in my career, but life decisions caused me to stop. It changed my socializing as dramatically as that decision.

I’d also gotten married by then and saw first hand the shenanigans that went on during travel. Almost 100% was fueled by drinking and nothing would have happened sober. So I looked at this as just another opportunity to be alone.

LET’S GO OUT!

At the end of the day in trade shows, in fact before the end of the day the topic of conversation was what bar, party, other place (strip club for some) they would all go to. While still a reader and having my social battery worn down by the end of the day (and knowing I’d have to face these people the next day(s)), I had to think of an escape to be alone. It of course was to recharge and to get away from people if only for a short time.

My counter offer was who wants to work out. I’d wait until they were neck deep in wanting to order their first drink so I knew full well I’d be rebuffed. Never once did anyone take me up on it. By then, my goal was to eat alone, not to accidentally wind up that way.

Now, even though I’m retired, I actively try to eat alone on travel, but also at home. I enjoy the nightly meal with the family left in my house, but I’m still as happy to read while eating. It doesn’t seem strange to me, but my extrovert friends and family don’t and never will get it.

Things I’ve learned.

  1. It’s just fine to eat alone. Don’t be shamed into thinking there is anything wrong with it. Just like some people have to small talk or have company, others prefer the opposite.
  2. You are never alone if you have a book. Surfing the web is quick and random. A book draws you out and can take time to develop the characters and affect your emotions.
  3. If you learn to be ok by yourself, life will be a lot easier to manage.

And I Have To Go To This Shithole Soon

Portland, here is what happened when they de-funded the police. They turned make Portland weird into make Portland a crime zone.

I have a relative there and have to go in a few weeks. I can’t say how little I’m excited to go travel.

Hopefully, I’m not on a Boeing plane that is missing bolts or stuck next to traveler who starts a fight. Both seem to be a trend lately.

When I get there, the homeless and the crazies have destroyed the city, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to that either.

Like all trips, the best part is leaving and coming home.

As for being an introvert, as soon as I committed to going, my irritation level shot up. My social battery is not able to recharge because it can’t knowing I have to face this. A countdown to leaving (to come home) automatically begins in my head, I can’t stop it from happening.

It will be over in a bit, but for now I’m suffering until it is over and I’m back home.

Controlling The Masses Like The Soviets Did, DHS Plans to Steal Biometric Data at All Federal Airports

Buried below are the words that the DHS allows illegals to fly without ID’s. That tells you a lot. They controlled groups of people in Germany during the 1940’s by putting them on trains and taking them to camps. This is the digital train ride.

According to the MSN, the CAT-2 scanners incorporate facial recognition technology by capturing real-time pictures of travelers and comparing them against their photo IDs. They will be expanded to every federal airport.

These units have been deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide and are expected to expand to 430 federal airports in the coming years.

For now, it’s optional for passengers. How long will that be the case?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, officers take biometric photos of passengers prior to boarding a flight at Houston International Airport on February 12, 2018. ..Photographer: Donna Burton

A bill, The Traveler Privacy Protection Act, has been introduced with bipartisan support. It calls for the government to end the invasive policy and stop expansion without congressional approval.

After the bill was announced, that’s about the time that DHS decided to move ahead.

Storage of the Biometric Data

According to MSN, “The TSA emphasizes that photos are not stored after a positive ID match, except during limited testing for evaluating technology effectiveness. This testing involves two to four weeks at specific locations, with data collected and submitted to the DHS Science and Technology Directorate for independent analysis.”

Allegedly, TSA won’t keep the data, but how long will Homeland Security and other entities keep it, and who can control what they do with it?

This is the DHS that lets illegal aliens fly without IDs. They aren’t trustworthy and don’t care about the safety of the people. So, why are they doing it?

story

Do not comply

DEI In The Sky Is Going To Get Us Killed

That, Medicine and law enforcement are the wrong places to be cutting corners. We have to get rid of it. Judging based on the color of skin is racist, any color….or gender

DEI In The Airlines, Failure In The Air

The CEO of Alaska Airlines said new, in-house inspections of the carrier’s Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the wake of a near-disaster earlier this month revealed that “many” of the aircraft were found to have loose bolts.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci discussed the findings of his company’s inspections so far since the Jan. 5 incident, in which a panel on one of its Max 9 jets blew out midair on a flight carrying 177 people.

“I’m more than frustrated and disappointed,” he said. “I am angry. This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people. And — my demand on Boeing is what are they going to do to improve their quality programs in-house.”

Story.

And this:

So, as I predicted in 2008, after a moderate first term helped Barack Obama get reelected in 2012, in 2013 Obama let loose his people to pursue their agenda of Diversity-Inclusion-Equity (DIE).

White House officials decided in 2013 to purge the hiring list of over 1,000 graduates of the air traffic control course at colleges like Arizona State who had also passed the cognitive exam for hiring. Instead, it made air traffic control job-seekers start over with a new “biographical” test to “add diversity to the workforce.”

This was in response to complaints from the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees that only 9.47 percent of FAA workers were black compared with 17.6 percent in the federal civilian workforce. “Thus, the FAA would be required to increase their complement of African American workers by 8.13 percent to reach parody [sic] with the Federal Civilian Workforce.”

This is not a parody.

The Obama administration’s new biographical test was blatantly rigged to boost blacks and hurt whites by leaning in to anti-black stereotypes. From the lawsuit against the FAA filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation:

…a candidate could be awarded 15 points, the highest possible for any question, if they indicated that their lowest grades in high school were in science…. In contrast, an applicant was awarded only 2 points if they had a pilot’s certificate and no points were awarded for having a Control Tower Operator rating or having Instrument Flight Rules experience…. In addition, one question on the Biographical Questionnaire awarded an applicant 10 points, the most available for that question, if the applicant answered s/he had not been employed in the prior three years. Another question awarded 4 or 8 points if the applicant had been unemployed five or more months in the prior three years. Statistics from the Department of Labor indicate that African Americans had the highest unemployment rate in 2010–2014.

Even the federal organization that made up this absurd biographical test reported to the FAA that it hadn’t been validated.

I’ve never wanted to get on a plane less than I do right now. They have crazy people in Air Traffic Control with mental issues and DEI ruining aircraft maintenance. A pilot who couldn’t qualify other than through diversity almost crashed his plane because he shouldn’t have been flying to begin with.

Diversity and woke ruins everything it touches, but in this case a plane is coming down soon because some assholes think that equality and diversity is more important than skill and training.

speaking of diversity

I Don’t Want Diversity In Hiring For Air Travel, I Want To Make Sure We Don’t Crash

This is the worst headline I’d ever want to read about travel. FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with ‘severe intellectual’ and ‘psychiatric’ disabilities. No, give me the best there are only and don’t base it on anything but qualifications and not flipping out.

The Federal Aviation Administration is actively recruiting workers who suffer “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website. 

“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website states. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”

The initiative is part of the FAA’s “Diversity and Inclusion” hiring plan, which claims “diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.” The FAA’s website shows the agency’s guidelines on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23, 2022. 

The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation, is a government agency charged with regulating civil aviation and employs roughly 45,000 people. 

story

If You’re Going To Drive Your Car On A Long Trip, Please Make Sure It’s Going To Make It

I drove over the holidays to see some family. It was only 4 hours, but in the time, I passed a double digit number of cars abandoned on the highway with highway patrol stickers on them.

What did they have in common? They were all either pieces of shit or treated like shit. How these people even attempted to take a trip is beyond me.

I get if that what you have is all you can drive, but at least have the car checked before you leave. It costs way more to have it towed and to have your means of getting to work out of commission.

It’s cheaper and a hell of a lot less hassle to deal with to rent a car for a long trip if yours isn’t going to make it. Hell, Jiffy Lube will tell you if your POS needs something fixed when they try to up sell you from an oil change.

For the rest of us that made it, those cars broken down by the side of the road cause traffic to mess up or slow down unnecessarily.

Moral of the story, don’t ruin your trip, your next week(s) and our trip when it’s easier to take care of your vehicle properly.

No going back, how Covid has changed us

Covid has changed our lives for good, and possibly/probably not for the better. Let’s take it by activity.

Travel

Here is some history. Flying used to be fun, economical and had good service. We used to like going on an airplane until some jag-off decided to try and light his shoe bomb on a plane.  Then another tried to blow up his underwear. We now have to queue in a long line  and I’m not all that sure that it’s stopped anyone other than the average Joe traveler. It hasn’t stopped the TSA from copping a feel on strangers.  The food sucks now and isn’t free anymore. Flying is more like the line for enlistment (including your prostate exam by the TSA) than to get on a plane.

With Covid, we can now add a temperature check, face masks and the the fear of catching anything from being in a tube for hours with little to no service.  The airports are petri dishes for bacteria.

Given the losses on travel companies and equipment manufacturers, it doesn’t bode well for the travel industry or the travelers.

Going to the office to work.

The requirement to be in person at work not as necessary as thought.

Before remote working, we had to be in the office or no one could be fully sure that you were earning your pay. Travel and working remotely eased that but there still are some bosses who didn’t trust their employees.   I had one piss-ant manager named R. Gorman when I worked at Thinkpad who didn’t trust anyone. He  sent a memo called rules of the road where you had to be in the office. All that got him was no trust or loyalty from the team. We were technologically equipped to work from anywhere and always did on business travel, but there still was some requirement to be in the office otherwise.

Employees want to be empowered to succeed. When that happens, they find ways to be creative and accomplish their goals. Conversely, when you treat them like school children, many will act that way. Just like with Ray, our productivity went down and the Ray jokes went up.

Now, no one can go in to work while we are socially distancing, and most jobs (non-manufacturing) are still getting done. It’s easy to reach anyone at anytime (too easy and too intrusive) but the oversight of said taskmasters is not needed. In a way, the people are now empowered and they still get the work done.  This one could be a benefit of Covid.

The downside is that a lot of empty buildings will lose their real estate value as there is no need to be in the office with the exception of essential workers.

How it affects the home

For us introverts, I thought it would be a time that we could cancel and/or avoid engagements until Zoom invaded our lives. Now even virtual happy hours are like a meeting. I’ve noticed that it’s hard to get privacy when kids and dogs are in the room or yelling in the background. Spouses or parents have been caught parading nude in front of the camera by accident.

When you meet in person, it’s easier to read body language and have someones attention. I tend to drift during Zoom meetings and have multiple devices that I often look at. I’ve noticed that I’m not alone.

Trouble for Introverts

Normally, we would be in pig heaven not to have to go to the office. In addition to the invasiveness of Zoom/Skype, we are stuck in the house with extroverts who won’t leave us alone. It’s like being trapped in hell. You want the quiet and the peace you got when the extrovert was in the office, instead your personal space is invaded and you can’t escape the dreaded small talk.  The place that used to be your refuge has been invaded and there is no escape.  It’s a fucking nightmare.  It’s the people in your house that you can’t get away from.

How are you supposed to recharge your social battery when an extrovert is constantly draining it all day?  Please, leave me alone and talk to your girlfriends.

Schools

The school model is now exposed, especially at college level. No more extortion for dorms when you can do 90% online. College professors are no longer as essential. Recorded classes, especially at the 100 and 200 level are adequate. Online testing and submitting required homework is routinely done online even well before this virus.

It turns out that colleges are a Breathtakingly overpriced product.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/breathtakingly-overpriced-product-mike-rowe-says-covid-19-revealed-college-really/

According to Mike Rowe: “They’re gonna’ find big thinkers with easily accessible ideas who are exponentially more interesting than professors, and soon, I hope, our obscene love affair with credentialing is going to stop, and we’re going to pause in every imaginable way, and look at what is essential – not just in workers or in work, but in education, in food, in fun. Everything is going to be forced through a different filter,” he said.

Colleges will also be exposed on their sports programs. Sports are a bank fund that pays for a lot of other school expenses and is a recruiting tool for enrollment. The schools will now have to rely on actual academics as a draw for students instead of March Madness or Bowl season. Maybe the students will now get an education instead of an indoctrination to Marxism.

Conversely, this is a big positive as the cost of education has the opportunity to go down (but so far the colleges are still extorting the same ransom from parents). Room and board are a large part of the cost of an education. Combine that with the lack of a requirement for many classrooms and there is the road to cutting costs.

It is not in the best interest of the Major institutions to charge less, but the cat is out of the bag that you can get almost as much done online. I hope that the masses will overcome and help this opportunity for cost cutting.

For elementary, middle and high school, I think it will hurt our youth.  There is a need for hands on in basic learning and kids have the attention span of gnats.  Sometimes you need to snatch their asses back to attention when it’s learning time.

New paradigm for getting essential needs like groceries.

Essential services like cancer, emergency rooms are same, but will change. Non-essential Dr. visits are now handled over the phone or via video. Dr.’s can now dedicate more of their time to real emergencies or necessary in-person visits. A person using the Emergency Room for healthcare because they don’t have insurance is going to go way down.

There is no downtime for paperwork and other overhead that comes with any job, but that got handled off-line mostly anyway.

Rely on technology more, but the risk is that you can take down a society like the virus did. Beware of hackers though, where there is opportunity, there will be bad guys looking to make your day worse.

Shopping

Groceries have taken a turn for the better/worse/something different. Now that we went through the great toilet paper shortage and people have enough to wipe their asses for the next 5 years.   They can realize that a little planning can condense 5 shopping trips into one, or one delivery or pickup.

A lot converts have been made for grocery delivery. There are a few kinks that need to be worked out though. I’ve gotten stuff I didn’t order, but mostly I rarely get everything I wanted, even if I put in what the substitute would be product. There is no shopping for the store brand that is a whole lot cheaper.

We have gotten used to queuing a lot more now. It used to be the end of the world for some people who had to wait for more than one person to checkout. Now, we’re standing on X’s taped to the floor like kindergartners waiting to go potty.

As is the trend, online shopping has picked up and the downside is retail stores are less needed.  Again, this is a loss in real estate value and will leave a lot of square footage available.

So all in all, some of this is good, but a lot of it was unnecessary. If it wasn’t an election year or if there were different political leaders, a whole lot of people wouldn’t be losing there freaking minds over every little thing that they look for to be offended by.  HCQ would be over the counter like it is in a lot of countries and we wouldn’t be held hostage for masks as no one really seems to know whether it truly helps or hurts us yet.

I’ll remain optimistic that society will adapt.  I’m pessimistic that this is a political power opportunity to control the masses and we should beware.

Things Airline Pilots Won’t Tell You

A collection of stories written by pilots
I’m an airline pilot flying domestically under the banner of a major airline.  Most people are unaware of how much of their flying is done by a “regional” airline.  Regional airlines today fly a huge percentage of the actual seat miles flown for their Major airline partner (Delta, United, US Air, etc.).  However we are paid a fraction of what the major airline pilots are paid, and even these major airline pilots are paid significantly less than their counterparts several years ago.
Many regional airline first officers make the same as your friendly pizza delivery driver.  (It is typical for most of them to make no more than 16K/year the first year.)Here are a few things we won’t tell you:-Don’t drink the coffee.  The potable water the aircraft is serviced with is absolutely disgusting.  Chemicals are inserted into the water tanks to prevent bad things from growing, but the bad taste of the coffee isn’t the coffee–its the chemicals…

-We don’t know where we are most of the time…  (kidding for the most part)  In all actuality there are much more sophisticated avionics units on most small general aviation aircraft.  Those units display many aspects of geographic awareness where most of ours simply display the route that we programmed in the flight management computer before departure.  We can tell you how far away we are from the next navigation facility and where we are in general terms, but aside from that and what we can see out the window, we typically only have a general idea of where we are when at cruise altitude.  Of course we all carry maps, but not too many of us will open the map and follow our progress on a 3 hour flight.  (That all changes as we begin descending toward the airport.  Situational Awareness is extremely important then.)

-We forget about the fasten seatbelt sign all the time.  When you look up at the sign (and disregard it typically) and it has been illuminated for the last 45 minutes in smooth air, we simply forgot.  Lots of guys will leave it on all the time.  However, sometimes we do have reports of choppy air ahead and will leave it on until we either experience it or take a wild guess that the air ahead will be smooth.

Some of us carry guns.  This is certainly public knowledge, but Federal Flight Deck Officers can carry a firearm in the cockpit.  Lots of protocol exists to ensure that the training, concealment, and utilization is standardized.

They never announce, “That was close !!” As in, a near mid-air encounter with other air traffic.Only from personal experience and asking the pilot as I disembarked from the aircraft, can I relate this story.Landing at Newark airport in 1986, I was sitting in a window seat about mid section, left side of the plane. I was looking out of the window for a good view of NYC. After seeing that, I was watching the area around the airport as we came in to land. We were about 300′ altitude, or less, and all of a sudden I was stunned to see another plane taking off. It was very close as it took off, nearly underneath our plane as it was climbing out. I don’t know how close we were, just that I could see the passengers in the windows of the other plane close enough to see if they were male or female. My view only lasted about 5 seconds, but I thought they were my last! When I got to the front of the plane and the pilot was standing there I said, “That was close…?” He said, “No, not really.” Very calmly.

I wonder how often that happens, and I bet they NEVER tell the passengers that piece of news!

Most pilots won’t tell you that “air traffic control delays” aren’t really ATC’s “fault”; these delays would be better termed “overscheduling delays”.The vast majority of what the airlines and system term “ATC delays” are actually from a pretty simple supply-and-demand situation.  There’s too many airplanes (demand) trying to land in a limited number of arrival slots (supply) at a given airport over a given time period.Airports have what are known as “arrival rates”.  A standard, one-runway airport with well-designed taxiways (including “high speed” taxiways) can safely handle, in good weather, around 60 operations an hour- one per minute.

This can be 60 landings in an hour, or 60 takeoffs in an hour, or 30 of each, or whatever combination you want to come up with, but that’s about the limit.

(This is a bit of an oversimplification with really good design, you can usually depart faster than arrive, but bear with me for now.)

So say you’ve got this airport, and say it’s got more than enough gates for all the airlines and planes that want to use it.  The only limiting factor is that 60/hour number, right?

Yeah- until crappy weather shows up.  Now they can only land 30 planes per hour.

Unfortunately, the ATC system- run by the FAA- does not regulate how many flights can be scheduled into an airport.  (That’s what deregulation gave us.)  So the airlines that operate in there all schedule as many as they think they can get passengers for.

So during this hour, the airlines have scheduled 60 arrivals, but only 30 planes can land because it’s a cloudy, rainy day.

What happens to the other 30 flights?  They get delayed.

And who delays them?  ATC.

And what do the airlines call these delays?  “Supply and demand delays”?  “Weather delays?”  Nope.

“ATC delays.”

But the reality is that they’re overscheduling delays.  If the airlines and/or the airports would limit the number of flights to the BAD weather limits, the number of delays in the system would be massively shrunk.

That the Airbus A320 is known to have routine cockpit power outtages.  And that this plane that you are on right now, which is among the most popular in the world, might not be fixed!

Such as United Flight 731 which “had no way to communicate with air traffic controllers or detect other planes around them in the New York City area’s crowded airspace.” [1]That “France-based Airbus told NTSB investigators in 2008 that 49 electrical failures similar to the Newark emergency happened on its planes in the U.S. and abroad before that episode. Nearly half involved the loss of at least five of six cockpit displays.” [1]And…that a mere 46 hours and $6,000 is the only thing holding back every single plane in the air from this crucial upgrade due to “economics”

The Airbus A320 family includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321 models — passenger jets with 100 to 220 seats.

And you wonder why I take trains and boats????

Note: these came from other people and I don’t guarantee 100% accuracy