Glacial Avian
@glacialavian.bsky.social
Avatar by Herbert Ponting.
They're 4-5 feet tall and have wingspans of up to 10 feet. They would be near-impossible to hide.
I'm guessing that one's meant for "no, your import permit is for a /turkey vulture/, this is not the world's largest turkey vulture, this is a California condor".
I'm guessing that one's meant for "no, your import permit is for a /turkey vulture/, this is not the world's largest turkey vulture, this is a California condor".
January 23, 2026 at 7:30 AM
They're 4-5 feet tall and have wingspans of up to 10 feet. They would be near-impossible to hide.
I'm guessing that one's meant for "no, your import permit is for a /turkey vulture/, this is not the world's largest turkey vulture, this is a California condor".
I'm guessing that one's meant for "no, your import permit is for a /turkey vulture/, this is not the world's largest turkey vulture, this is a California condor".
This mentally combined with the news story about someone trying to cross a border with some endangered parakeets down his pants (he was caught due to, uh, suspicious bulges) and now I'm envisioning someone trying to smuggle a California condor on their person.
It would be loud.
It would be loud.
January 23, 2026 at 5:44 AM
This mentally combined with the news story about someone trying to cross a border with some endangered parakeets down his pants (he was caught due to, uh, suspicious bulges) and now I'm envisioning someone trying to smuggle a California condor on their person.
It would be loud.
It would be loud.
For comparison, the ISS is the largest human-made object ever put in orbit. Its pressurized volume is 31,000ft^2 and its power output is 735,000kWh/yr from the solar array. The real DC is 225,000ft^2 plus 40 2-megawatt generators - 8,000kW per generator, 320,000 kW when they're all running.
January 22, 2026 at 3:24 AM
For comparison, the ISS is the largest human-made object ever put in orbit. Its pressurized volume is 31,000ft^2 and its power output is 735,000kWh/yr from the solar array. The real DC is 225,000ft^2 plus 40 2-megawatt generators - 8,000kW per generator, 320,000 kW when they're all running.
Solar efficiency, I guess. Everything else is brainworms - can't swap out the hard drives when they go bad unless you have astronauts (the real DC I know about employs a full-time staff for that), hard to transmit to ground-based customers because of earthshadow, limited space.
January 22, 2026 at 3:24 AM
Solar efficiency, I guess. Everything else is brainworms - can't swap out the hard drives when they go bad unless you have astronauts (the real DC I know about employs a full-time staff for that), hard to transmit to ground-based customers because of earthshadow, limited space.
Same. I do not care about people's sex lives as long as they're not blocking the sidewalk, but if you benefit from society and community (working sewer systems, roads/trains/buses, general social contract that it's wrong to randomly punch people, etc.) you should keep your part of that up.
January 21, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Same. I do not care about people's sex lives as long as they're not blocking the sidewalk, but if you benefit from society and community (working sewer systems, roads/trains/buses, general social contract that it's wrong to randomly punch people, etc.) you should keep your part of that up.
I'm in a very urban area and it's volunteer here too. My main qualification is literally just having the free time. (I do it because it's better than panicking about the election for days.)
January 15, 2026 at 7:48 PM
I'm in a very urban area and it's volunteer here too. My main qualification is literally just having the free time. (I do it because it's better than panicking about the election for days.)
Looking forward to the Hawker article! I read through some of the past cases when the safety rec came out (the one with the Raytheon pilots who got multiple unprompted 360º rolls was... illuminating) but I'd love to know more about why this plane and why now.
January 12, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Looking forward to the Hawker article! I read through some of the past cases when the safety rec came out (the one with the Raytheon pilots who got multiple unprompted 360º rolls was... illuminating) but I'd love to know more about why this plane and why now.
I faceplanted spectacularly trying to get suitcases onto a Paris Metro train because the wheels got caught in the gap between the platform and the train floor. A wheelchair-accessible way to board would avoid that too!
January 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM
I faceplanted spectacularly trying to get suitcases onto a Paris Metro train because the wheels got caught in the gap between the platform and the train floor. A wheelchair-accessible way to board would avoid that too!
There were payroll processors who had accounts there. They had all the money in their account waiting to move out to individual employees, obviously much more than $250,000 total, and it all froze. I think it's reasonable to cover those immediately. www.rippling.com/blog/ripplin...
December 29, 2025 at 5:01 PM
There were payroll processors who had accounts there. They had all the money in their account waiting to move out to individual employees, obviously much more than $250,000 total, and it all froze. I think it's reasonable to cover those immediately. www.rippling.com/blog/ripplin...
The Bahamas (as of 2011) and Bermuda (as of 1999) do allow captains to officiate marriages at sea. Presumably for the cruise lines, since I don't imagine many cargo ships have people wanting to get married onboard.
December 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The Bahamas (as of 2011) and Bermuda (as of 1999) do allow captains to officiate marriages at sea. Presumably for the cruise lines, since I don't imagine many cargo ships have people wanting to get married onboard.
I can't find an investigation page on it, but I like DCA14IA037 : "Aircraft landed wrong airport." The ATC transcript is the best part. (No injuries, everyone just got a bonus bus ride.)
December 16, 2025 at 5:32 AM
I can't find an investigation page on it, but I like DCA14IA037 : "Aircraft landed wrong airport." The ATC transcript is the best part. (No injuries, everyone just got a bonus bus ride.)
So the joke is that Cruise was, in fact, held to account for their actions - they were shut down by the government after less than two months and also fined 1.5mil for not immediately admitting their car had dragged the pedestrian.
December 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
So the joke is that Cruise was, in fact, held to account for their actions - they were shut down by the government after less than two months and also fined 1.5mil for not immediately admitting their car had dragged the pedestrian.
Cruise was another autonomous car company. One of their cars had a pedestrian thrown under it by a separate accident and then tried to pull over with her pinned underneath. The CA Public Utilities Commission (the regulator) pulled their operating license, and they've since shut down completely.
December 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Cruise was another autonomous car company. One of their cars had a pedestrian thrown under it by a separate accident and then tried to pull over with her pinned underneath. The CA Public Utilities Commission (the regulator) pulled their operating license, and they've since shut down completely.
The only one I've seen that works is dedicated transcription software - the Whisper derivatives can often run on-device, but they only transcribe audio files. (And accuracy is apparently much worse in non-English languages.) Not a do-everything machine, just a variant on existing tools.
December 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
The only one I've seen that works is dedicated transcription software - the Whisper derivatives can often run on-device, but they only transcribe audio files. (And accuracy is apparently much worse in non-English languages.) Not a do-everything machine, just a variant on existing tools.
(Funny story: when I told HR I was leaving, they briefly misunderstood - their first question was if I was willing to work the shift that started in 15 minutes, and the next one was whether they could mail my last paycheck or if I needed it tomorrow. I wasn't leaving for another week!)
December 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
(Funny story: when I told HR I was leaving, they briefly misunderstood - their first question was if I was willing to work the shift that started in 15 minutes, and the next one was whether they could mail my last paycheck or if I needed it tomorrow. I wasn't leaving for another week!)
I worked at a regional amusement park (part of a chain) one summer. They asked during hiring about times I couldn't work and respected them, and they never paid us late. They were the epitome of Mechanical Huge Business, but part of that was having functional HR.
December 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I worked at a regional amusement park (part of a chain) one summer. They asked during hiring about times I couldn't work and respected them, and they never paid us late. They were the epitome of Mechanical Huge Business, but part of that was having functional HR.
(The accident where a car hit someone walking a bike because it couldn't tell if they were a cyclist or a pedestrian was Uber, the one where a car dragged a pedestrian that had been thrown under it was GM Cruise. Neither is Waymo, neither is CPUC-approved to operate in California.)
December 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
(The accident where a car hit someone walking a bike because it couldn't tell if they were a cyclist or a pedestrian was Uber, the one where a car dragged a pedestrian that had been thrown under it was GM Cruise. Neither is Waymo, neither is CPUC-approved to operate in California.)
It's the cat or some dogs. The only Waymo-involved human deaths have been caused by humans: a human rear-ended a queue at a red light that included a Waymo, and a human went around a Waymo that had stopped for a pedestrian and hit a motorcyclist.
December 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
It's the cat or some dogs. The only Waymo-involved human deaths have been caused by humans: a human rear-ended a queue at a red light that included a Waymo, and a human went around a Waymo that had stopped for a pedestrian and hit a motorcyclist.
I've gotten accommodations myself, I know the rules are frequently bullshit, but I can understand why the airlines changed policies after that.
December 4, 2025 at 3:32 AM
I've gotten accommodations myself, I know the rules are frequently bullshit, but I can understand why the airlines changed policies after that.
The airlines really cracked down after this incident. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news... The dog attacked his human's seatmate and had to be pulled off repeatedly. The guy needed 28 stitches. He sued the airline, because they'd let an unsafe dog fly unrestrained in the passenger cabin.
December 4, 2025 at 3:32 AM
The airlines really cracked down after this incident. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news... The dog attacked his human's seatmate and had to be pulled off repeatedly. The guy needed 28 stitches. He sued the airline, because they'd let an unsafe dog fly unrestrained in the passenger cabin.
There is a form for planes, actually. It asks whether the dog is a service animal and who trained it (and requires a phone number so the airline can call and verify), but not what it does. www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.go...
December 4, 2025 at 3:32 AM
There is a form for planes, actually. It asks whether the dog is a service animal and who trained it (and requires a phone number so the airline can call and verify), but not what it does. www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.go...
Do you mean "uncomfortable with" here in the sense of "I don't think this should exist", or in the sense of "nothing against the people who like it, but I personally find this anti-sexy"? I've heard the argument for why both make you weird and unreliable, but I'm not sure which one you're making.
November 29, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Do you mean "uncomfortable with" here in the sense of "I don't think this should exist", or in the sense of "nothing against the people who like it, but I personally find this anti-sexy"? I've heard the argument for why both make you weird and unreliable, but I'm not sure which one you're making.
I've read 1 and 2, but hadn't seen 3. Thanks for pointing me at it!
November 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
I've read 1 and 2, but hadn't seen 3. Thanks for pointing me at it!
I have personally gotten chewed out for asking for women-are-dominant romantasy books, on the grounds that femdom is disempowering and misogynist. True feminist romance novel enjoyers only want to read about women being sexually subjugated and loving it, apparently.
November 29, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I have personally gotten chewed out for asking for women-are-dominant romantasy books, on the grounds that femdom is disempowering and misogynist. True feminist romance novel enjoyers only want to read about women being sexually subjugated and loving it, apparently.
My employer accidentally ripped out a water pipeline because the maps were 40 feet off. Now the rule is that you /must/ confirm the location by hand-digging, and if you can't find it you call 811 again and tell them there's a problem, but we have time and money that not everyone does.
November 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
My employer accidentally ripped out a water pipeline because the maps were 40 feet off. Now the rule is that you /must/ confirm the location by hand-digging, and if you can't find it you call 811 again and tell them there's a problem, but we have time and money that not everyone does.