So...what are the odds that Congress is going to find the money to rush upgrades to the F-22 fleet, along with better radar and ECM to the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 fleet? Basically, everything the USAF has been asking for for the past five years, but hasn’t been able to buy because the F-35 is sucking up the budget. The…

I think your sarcasm will be too subtle for most of the commenters here, but I found it hilarious.

This guy can’t comprehend that constantly having to tune carburetors is a bug, not a feature.

That article, and the decision keep that 3000GT VR4, might be the only things I’ve agreed with Tavarish on.

Big question - what happens when the Model X gets hit. How do you correct the careful alignment of all of those moving pieces on a damaged car, and how expensive will it be to replace all of those sub-surface sensors?

Yeah, but then you, you know, get out of the minivan, close the sliding door, and walk out. Even if the sliding door is motorized, that’s probably faster than the falcon door. And cheaper, probably more reliable, and still doesn’t have the worry about overhead clearance.

Is the screen biased towards the driver, is it an artifact of the fisheye lens?

The updated avionics were a nice improvement - that boardset runs a bit hot, but the functionality is dramatically improved compared to original hardware. Assembly was neater too. The original hardware was thrown together very quickly and showed it, but the purpose design 3.0 hardware was rather nice.

Are 550s selling? I remember hearing about the launch of production, and remember them ordering multiple ship sets of electronics, but I never knew if it was going into new 550s or upgraded 500s.

Well, if they’re smart, they will program each ‘button’ to require more than a gentle touch to activate. This will be slower and more annoying, but harder to screw up.

I’m not fan of touch screens, but this is probably a better solution than scrolling through layers of menus with a rotary knob with push button functionality.

I always wanted to see these things with guns and bombs strapped under the wings, A-1 Skyraider style. Does that make me odd?

Easy answer - buy more F-15s, particularly Strike Eagles. Yes, there aren’t enough F-22s to do what we need, but Boeing is still building F-15s and the Saudis financed the latest round of upgrades. Why not cash in on that? This is especially relevant because the existing Strike Eagle fleet is creeping up in age and…

Considering that might be the only one left in Nevada that hasn’t been turned into a drift machine, I’d say it’s a classic.

You’re ignoring and discounting one very, very important detail here - the opening of Iranian oil markets. The Russian economy is suffering due to low oil prices, and has been suffering further from sanctions since the beginning of the mess in Ukraine. What is going to happen when the Iranians flood the market with…

I’m still sad you killed it. Destroying that car felt like killing a unicorn. Sure, it was a old, beat up, unicorn with a chipped horn a broken leg, but it was still said to see it die.

I love this. Everyone else goes for red stitching, but blue is where it’s at.

Why is this not centered?

Yes, but imagine if all of them had been executed, their fans hunted down and killed, their memorabilia destroyed. This is more akin to Stalin erasing undesirables from photographs and newspaper articles - they’re dead, they’re erased from official records, and everyone who knew them or was there when they were in…

This sounds like an Audi R8 with two more cylinders and different badging.