Hey guys, I just moved to Peachtree City, GA from New England and everyone here drives golf carts all over town. I'm an engineer and got the idea that it would make sense to have a solar roof to extend range and also charge the carts while they are parked. I did some research and found some pretty basic kits. None of the kits I found looks very clean or attractive. I want to ask the members of this group who are in the golf cart community if there is interest for a solar roof that is discretely integrated in to a standard golf cart roof. The idea is you could go somewhere with your golf cart and get about 10% charge per hour if its sunny out.
Here's the basic features list:
-Solar cells integrated into molded plastic roof (This would look like a standard golf cart roof, not obvious that the roof is a solar panel)
-Accurate Battery Gage (shows % life battery left)
-Integrated 120V Charging capability (from wall socket)
-Approximately 10% per hour solar charging in sunny conditions
-Compatibility with all battery types, (36v, 48v in AGM, Lead Acid, Lithium)
Estimated Cost: $1200-$2000 (Parts and Labor, professionally installed by approved installer)
Let me know what you think! 🙂
Do you think this is a product you would want for your custom golf cart?
How would you suggest I do market research?

Hey guys, I just moved to Peachtree City, GA from New England and everyone here drives golf carts all over town. I'm an engineer and got the idea that it would make sense to have a solar roof to extend range and also charge the carts while they are parked. I did some research and found some pretty basic kits. None of the kits I found looks very clean or attractive. I want to ask the members of this group who are in the golf cart community if there is interest for a solar roof that is discretely integrated in to a standard golf cart roof. The idea is you could go somewhere with your golf cart and get about 10% charge per hour if its sunny out.
Here's the basic features list:
-Solar cells integrated into molded plastic roof (This would look like a standard golf cart roof, not obvious that the roof is a solar panel)
-Accurate Battery Gage (shows % life battery left)
-Integrated 120V Charging capability (from wall socket)
-Approximately 10% per hour solar charging in sunny conditions
-Compatibility with all battery types, (36v, 48v in AGM, Lead Acid, Lithium)
Estimated Cost: $1200-$2000 (Parts and Labor, professionally installed by approved installer)
Let me know what you think! 🙂 Do you think this is a product you would want for your custom golf cart?

I have an older model RV. The shore power hooks up directly to a pony panel which supplies power via breakers to all the 120V receptacles in the trailer as well as a 120V-12V converter (which has a fan on it). The converter then (I think) supplies power to a low voltage panel to run all the 12V equipment (fridge fan, LED lighting circuits, water pump, ceiling fan). I'm not sure if the converter somehow charges the battery as well.
Someone that owned this RV before me also put a Sharp 50w solar panel on the roof with an Enerwatt EWC-30 solar regulator which charges a 100ah AGM battery.
When I'm not plugged into shore power the entire 12V trailer system works so I assume that low voltage panel will take power from either the AGM battery or the 120V-12V converter.
The problem I have is the former owner didn't install an inverter so none of the 120V plugs in or around the trailer run when I don't have shore power.
So lucky me I won a Bluetti EB70 with one of their proprietary solar panels at a Christmas work party. When I don't have shore power I figure to just plug the trailers shore power cable into this EB70 and power it with the solar panels it came with. If I'm off grid I'll be using propane to run my fridge and there is an old dometic mattel fan that draws 0.36A. The fan is thermostatically controlled and being from Canada, most nights the fan turns off as it gets cooler at night anyway. I do use a CPAP at night and that draws 50W for 6 or 7hrs depending on how long I sleep.
Now, on the off chance I have some rainy days and this Bluetti EB70 runs dead. I was thinking of using what had been stored in the 100A AGM battery to power the bluetti using a 10A - 12V to 24V converter. It seems this guy can charge his bluetti off any old battery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m3VBHq59Q
I'm just wondering, if I do this and come straight off the AGM battery as he does, will I do any harm to my trailer system and/or the bluetti EB70? Simple question I guess.
Given all of what I've said, if any additional advice is thought up I'd appreciate hearing it. At this point I don't think I need to buy anything other than the 10A 12-12V converter for $30 so using my trailer this way seems like it could work for me.
At the end of the day I just want to use all the 120V plugs on the trailer where they are rather than moving the bluetti around all the time.

It seems like there's no good way to look for faces? Through wearable top free only shows 2 faces and top paid only shows 200. Is that all of the faces there are? Ive bee. Using info board now I'm trying out marine commander in the blue setup because I like blue. Anyone got suggestions for other faces? I like the ability to add a app shortcut for remote controlled lights etc but I also like a digital time readout marine command has both watch hands and digital but the digital is small. Also how much battery does ticking. Hands really use? I disabled the seconds hand to save battery but idk if it does anything in terms of battery.

Hello all. I bought this car 200 miles away from home and it died 6 miles before getting home. It turns over and you can tell it almost wants to start, you can hear the compression and the soft muffled "pop" from the exhaust. Here is some relevant info. I picked up the car and drove 40 miles and it had consumed half a tank of gas. No SES light at this time. Stopped for gas, drive 5 mins and SES light came on however no change in the engine performance. I was cruising at a steady 75mph. After the SES light came on, the fuel mileage was phenomenal! I had used a quarter of a tank the rest of the 160mi with the light on. 6 miles from my house, on the freeway, I slowed down and downshifted since there was a collision on the side of the road. After passing it, shifted back to to 6th and 75mph, engaged the cruise control, it hesitated a little and the car died. The SES never flashed. After this I couldn't get it started. The car has 155k miles on it but I have zero information about it's history. I checked for codes and got 4 on my crappy Bluetooth OBD2 dongle. P0084 (status pending), P0078 (status pending), P0455 (status pending, and P0455 (status confirmed). Those first 2 are pretty scary to me but it seems that I do have spark since I can hear a small ignition pop when it turns over. Oil level shows low, about 2-3mm from the bottom of the hash marks on the dipstick. How screwed at I?? Is it something simple like a fuel pump or a sensor or am I gonna have to do the timing components. I've worked on cars for over a decade as a hobby but I've never had a newer import so this is a learning experience for me. I can test sensors with a multimeter if I know what to look for. Other than this nightmare issue, the car was a blast to drive for those 160mi!! Thanks y'all. I'm hoping I can get it back on the road and start enjoying it!
TLDR: 155K mi G35 Coupe 6MT. No start after driving 200mi. Possible has spark. SES on but never flashed. Codes P0084 (status pending), P0078 (status pending), P0455 (status pending, and P0455 (status confirmed).
Update So came home from work and popped off the pump and there's plenty of fuel in there. The pump assembly is halfway submerged. I plugged everything back up, left the back seat out, turned the key, the fuel pumped primed audibly, I turned the key and it fired right up with no issue. So I'm thankful it runs but I'm paranoid I'm on borrowed time if I try to drive it around. I will mention that someone has been back there before. For one the bolts holding down the fuel pump assembly hat were mismatched. Second the top of the fuel pump was way too clean for original. Usually for original units, it's cake with a nice layer of dust and dirt. Not here, it was relatively pretty clean. However the pump assembly doesn't look new either. Slightly yellowed plastic and one tiny sticker. Normally new pumps will be clean, very white plastic, and a few production stickers like barcodes and whatnot. I did fail to mention this car is Salvage so I'm thinking someone just threw a junkyard pump in it somewhere along the way and it started to give out after 3 hours of solid running. What do y'all think? Being electrical, I'm concerned the pump could be bad/old, the relay might be old, or another sensor might be on its way out that only has issues when heat soaked. Also no SES this time but I did clear them and unplugged the battery as a Hail Mary on the side of the interstate before I called the tow truck.
TLDR: Plenty of fuel, pump primed, car fired up. No SES but they were closed. Pump area is too clean to be original however pump looks older and used, possibly from a junkyard. This is a salvage vehicle.

This past November, I upgraded to my base S22 from the Samsung On5, which I had since November 2016. Generational & lineup gaps acknowledged then put aside; The base S22 256GB was a tremendous upgrade from the lousy 8GB On5 I ran around with for six years. 8GB of RAM as opposed to 1.5GB of RAM. This phone gets dragged through the mud over it's battery & could it be better? It was 2022, sure. But in my case, I'll take my base S22's 3700mAh battery any day of the week over my former On5's 2600mAh battery; And I should also point out that was when the battery was new, an experience I had three times over. I'm in love with the wireless charging capability because in addition to battery replacements, I began to know my cell phone repair guy personally due to frequent visits; The USB charging port on my On5 had to be replaced several times due to pocket debris & lint. Now, with my S22's wireless charging & Otterbox Defender Pro case, those days are behind me.
If you're making documentaries/ music videos/ school work/ TikToks, the base S22 is probably not for you. But, for the moderate user who knows what they're doing, the base S22 can be a delightful experience on a budget. It's not perfect, but it can be so much worse..
Here's a few pointers to help your Base S22 help you. - Every chance you get, clean out your RAM. -SETTINGS, BATTERY AND DEVICE CARE, then hit OPTIMIZE NOW, if that option is available. If it is not, then hit MEMORY & then press CLEAN NOW(X amount of space).

• Charge your phone to 100%, if you'd like, but YOU MUST TAKE IT OFF THE CHARGER ONCE IT REACHES 100%. Allowing the battery marinate at 100% is detrimental to the longevity & performance of the battery, which may degrade it prematurely. Simply put, imagine picking up the very upper limit of your body strength. Then, you hold that weight up as high as you could, for as long as you could. May pull or tear something, right? That's your battery being left on the charger.
  
• Do not let the phone die (never below 20% would be optimal). When this happens, it also has a negative impact on the battery, which would also impact longevity & drag performance.
  
• There is no reason to run every app on your phone or leave apps running. This causes unnecessary battery drainage & wear. Just use what you're using & turn it off once done. You could even use 2-3 apps at once, just be sure to clean your RAM more frequently in these instances.
  
• WI-FI uses less battery than cellular data.
  
• If you're not using WI-FI or Bluetooth, turn those off because the phone would use battery looking to make those connections. In circumstances where you're at something serious like work & aren't on the phone much anyway, set it on AIRPLANE MODE. This will stop your S22 from looking for cellular signals, which turns battery drain into a battery trickle. You will get all of your messages & notifications once you turn off airplane mode.
  
• Make sure you use the correct charger. For the Base S22 to charge optimally, you need the OEM Samsung USB-C charging wire & the Samsung 25W power block, which the phone doesn't come with. Ripoff or not, having that specific charger ensures that your phone charges correctly. The wireless charging is optimally done on Samsung's 2022 15W wireless charger; That too, would require the Samsung USB-C charging wire & 25W power block to function correctly. Using alternate brands/wattages, while maybe cheaper, would only be to your detriment in the long run due to the possibility that your S22 may not change sufficiently, which may cause a lack of battery performance & come up short on expectations.
  
• Make sure to either RESTART or SHUT DOWN your Base S22 (I do it immediately after I charge to 100%, the 2/3 times a week I do it), to keep RAM clear while also optimizing both the battery & software.
  
• Keep up with the updates. Especially as of recently, Samsung's updates have improved the performance of the S22's battery. I believe that can be said for the whole S22 lineup, but that I don't know; I, without much difficulty or doubt, noticed an improvement in my bases battery post Feb23/Mar23 updates.
  

It's not perfect, but I'm thankful for my base S22. It truly could be worse. Sometimes, you have to stop & smell the roses. Appreciate what you have. Less is more sometimes. I know I'll be satisfied until S24/S25. And there's no reason you can't be, too. Unless you're outside of the U.S. & you have the Exynos processor. I wouldn't know about that experience.
I hope this helps someone out there. Life is too short to focus in "What could be.." & "How this can be better". That's for Samsung to worry about. You (probably) work hard. Enjoy your device. Just use common sense with slight maintenance & you should be fine. Besides, there's a reason vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor; Sometimes, it's all you need.
Take care & stay safe, everyone.

I have a feeling my battery may be on its way out. Are agm batteries worth it and can I simply replace my lead acid one with an agm?

As in topic,
can Khorn worshipping (or at least serving) SM, take off their armours ? (especially those with few mutations, do they still do it? ). For example, can Kharn still do it?
Who takes care of their armour ? I can imagine that from time to time they have to refill some fuel, recharge batteries, fill up the holes etc.
​
And lastly..don't they envy the younger loyalist space marines that they have better suits / weapons ?

“So then I said, ‘I’m not your mother last night!’ And, well, he took exception to that.”
Elsi rolled her eyes as she chuckled politely at the tired-retreaded joke that Jacki made as she broke the ice with the two new rookies that had been shifted to her pod. Despite it being the middle of summer the temperatures had dropped down to the low 50’s, positively bone chilling for the new girls. At least Jacki had fur, being a Rakiri and all, but most of her unit was huddled around the portable heaters that had “fallen off a truck”.
Thank the empress for small miracles (and bribes to the girls in supply) for that.
She sighed and turned her attention back onto the bridge they were watching. While the area felt remote and was hours away from anywhere worth being, it was vital infrastructure after the I40 had been blown by terrorists. This small concrete two lane was the only link across the Rio-Grande river that supply vehicles could cross for hours, or at least that would be the case until the I40 could be rebuilt. Hopefully this time out of thermo-crete or maybe even thermocaste.
“Anything out there?” Jacki’s voice rumbled as she padded up to Elsi, her comedy routine done for now at least.
“Nah, nothing on motion sensors or thermals. Other than that one car an hour ago it’s dead tonight.”
“Good! Maybe with the Governess easing up on the rebels they won’t be so bomb happy...” she trailed off and cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”
“Huh what?”
“I heard… something…”
Elsi closed her eyes, straining to listen. At first all she caught was the gentle breeze, and lapping of water on the pylons of the bridge, then a shrill, metal on metal ringing cut through the background noise, faint, but coming from the direction of the bridge. She groaned, “Fuuuuuuuuuck. Lights on folks!”
Jacki was already moving to the switchboard, flipping everything on as her marines, acting like a stiff, but oiled machine, tore themselves from the heaters to get into defensive positions. One by one the massive banks of lights clicked on with reverberating electric thunks, bathing the bridge in white hot light. Elsi pulled a set of binoculars from the rail and began scanning the bridge from the elevated observation post and groaned again. “Device at the crest of the bridge… There’s a bundle of wires. Looks like an IED, but it was a dud. I’ll take another small miracle.”
She sighed and picked up her headset and keyed the mike, “Hyperion 00-Actual to overwatch, we need EOD to bridge NK95.”
The radio specialist opened up, professionally, but she could tell the girl on the opposite end was overworked, “Understood Hyperion 00. An EOD tech will be dispatched to your location at the earliest possible time. What is the current situation?”
“Possible IED. We can hear it making noise from our position, but it may be a dud. We’re going to be closing NK95 until it can be rendered safe.”
“Understood.” There was a pause as the commo tech processed the information. “Oh. Logistics is not going to like that.”
“Yeah I know. Any idea on when the EOD tech will be here?”
“Unknown. EX-01 is currently handling another device at the moment.”
“Great. We’ll keep watch over things. Hyperion 00-actual clear.”
In truth, it ended up being several hours and nearly sun-up before anyone even arrived at the bridge. Meanwhile, all through the night, that ghostly ringing noise called out like a siren’s song, practically begging the marines to do something.
“You know, if it is a dud, us shooting it with a laser probably won’t trigger anything,” Jacki mused for the third or fourth time.
“Yeah, and are you willing to take the blame if we lose this bridge too? The next heavy crossing is near Vegas for fuck’s sack.”
“Do you think-?”
“No, they wouldn’t let us take the posting for security there if you shoot it and it blows up.”
“Fair enough. Incoming! Blue tacoma,” Jacki announced, sitting up and glancing out to the east as a lone vehicle approached the bridge. She flipped up her binoculars and studied the vehicle before relaxing. “Driver is Shil’vati. Hopefully that’s our EOD girl.”
“Fucking finally.” Elsi sighed and climbed to her feet, deciding to crunch down the gravel path from the observation post to meet the vehicle as it came to a stop at their roadblock. The door to the tacoma popped open with a clink as the driver, and a couple bottles of blue grail and some brown bottled human alcohol spilled out of the vehicle.
Thankfully, she caught herself before she could fully faceplant. The girl was short for a Shil’vati and stocky, reminding Elsi a bit of a Shil’vati scaled dwarf from human mythology.
“You girls request ord’nance disposal?” she asked, screwing her eyes a little in the glare from the illuminating lights.
“Yes. You’re EX-01?”
Elsi received a grunt of affirmation.
“The device seems to still be active, and has been making noise the whole night. It’s at the crest of the bridge…. Um, do you need any help with anything?”
“Nah. I’ll have this cleared up in a jiff,” she said nonchalantly while stomping to the back of the light pickup to pull loose pieces of heavy strap on armor from where it seemed to have been haphazardly tossed in the back. “Helmet-cam is set to channel 01 if you an’ yer girls want to watch the show.”
“Ooooh-kay? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Look, I get you want to help girl, but let me do my job and I’ll be out of your hair and overwatch can go back to routing trucks this way,” she grumbled as she pulled what looked to be a hinged scalloped piece of starship hull from the bed of the truck and began ambling her way up the bridge once her helmet was in place.
“Goddess help us if that’s the state our EOD techs are in now,” Elsi mumbled as she trudged back up to the command post. “Helmet stream 01” She said with a shrug, more than a little morbidly curious as the EOD tech approached the device.
“She good? I could smell the alcohol from here,” Jacki asked.
“Probably not,” Elsi replied as one of the rookies tuned in to the feed on the main display on the post.
The helmet feed wasn’t very enlightening, as up close the device looked to be, far less sophisticated than anyone had expected. A human cell phone, a truck battery, a tangle of wires going far too many directions for anyone in the command post to make sense of, and some squared off cream colored plastic device that seemed to be the source of the ringing as it shook and chattered with the metal ringing.
EX-01’s chatter to herself, or possibly overwatch, however was much more enlightening. “Device is interesting, not sure how they did it, but they patched the cell phone into this old human desk phone. Not seeing any leads from the battery or phone anywhere… Sniffer isn’t picking up any explosive residue…”
The ordinance tech tilted her head some as she slid the mass of tangled wires away from the contraption and studied the vibrating and ringing box for a little longer. “Whel fuck… Here goes nothing,” she mumbled as she picked up the handset on the ringing device and tensed up.
But nothing happened. Everyone watching through the cam-feed remained tense and Elsi could swear her ears popped from the shift in air pressure.
“Hello?” The bomb tech finally asked now that she had the ancient communication device’s handset up to her ear.
“”
There was a long, drawn out moment where the bomb tech processed the question. She had honestly expected the cobbled together device to explode the moment she had picked up the handset, and so hearing a voice, especially one speaking in a mix of trade and english had put her on the back foot.
“I… uh… I think so? ‘Keeps the beer and blue grail cold so… yeah…”
“”
There was a click, then the line went dead.
“I…wha?...what the fuck…? This fucking planet! Gah, fuck it.. Prepping for disposal,” she groused as she slapped a small adhesive explosive onto the truck battery and then another on the jury-rigged desk phone. She then gently pushed the whole pile onto the blast resistant sled and covered it up before starting to trudge back. “Exfiltrating. Not drunk enough for this shit.”
The bomb tech started making her way slowly back across the bridge as the timed explosives gave a light “pop” within the blast resistant enclosure, tearing apart the offending electronics. As she walked she mulled over the question for a time before suddenly starting to shout expletives after coming to a stop and hurled her blast helmet onto the roadway of the bridge. “Daughter of a Milk-drinking, goddess-damned, boy-bashing, brother-fucking, basket-faced, slipper-wielding, worm-eyed, vile-stoochie, Jessie of an Arlien whore!”
“Hyperion 00-actual to EX-o1, is… is everything all right?” Elsi asked into her headset, not sure if she could be heard as she continued watching and listening through the now disorienting and distorted helmet feed once the bomb tech finished up her rant.
“NO! IT WAS A FUCKING PRANK CALL!”
OwO, what's this? A chapter that is decidedly not Eagle Springs content, and the author's note at the bottom? Yup. It's more likely than you think.
As awlays, thankyou to Blue for creating SSB and letting us play in his sandbox.
And a special thanks to u/BruhMomentGEE the Author of Appalachia Calling for handling the editing and hammering some of the verbiage into shape.

So following on from my earlier post about air to air combat, a bit of a synopsis on how ground attack works.
Sources: 3 years in the USAF on Active Duty from 1991-1994, followed by 4 years in the Air National Guard 1995-1999, + Wikipedia to refresh my old-dude memory. My training was on USAF Weapons and Aircraft, practical experience on F-16C/D and F-15a models; so if you’re Navy or Marine air wings soz if I get anything wrong!
So how does one attack from the air to the ground with modern airborne weapons?
First, there’s old school, conventional, iron bombs -MK82 500lb, MK83 1,000lb, and Mk84 2,000lb. They are fused with two fuses. They’re attached to a rack, which does two things – it holds the bomb securely to the aircraft, and it has pistons that are fired by ‘impulse cartridges’ that are electrically primed explosive charges that fire the pistons to not just release the bombs but force them away from the aircraft. This is because under the aircraft wings and body, there’s a low-pressure zone generating lift that if the bombs are simply released from the aircraft, if the plane is flying fast enough, then they won’t actually drop straight down and might instead be pushed up into the aircraft and cause damage to it – obviously a bad thing!
Now, the venerable Mk82/83/84 ‘slicks’ have been around since the 50s, and haven’t changed much. They are the classic bomb shape – oblong, with stabilising fins at the back, and a cone-shaped nose. The first thing evolved when we started using fast jets for low-level bombing was a way to make the bombs fall slower – primarily so low-flying aircraft could escape the blast zone before the bomb went off and not get blown out of the air by the dropped bombs. Enter retardation wing sets – nicknamed ‘Snake Eye’. This is basically a set of three spring-powered flaps on the back of the bombs that pop out when the bomb is released and hit air resistance, slowing the bomb dramatically and making it hit the ground long after the jet has left the scene.
Now bombing this way isn’t hugely accurate - the reason why in WW2 we did area bombing is we didn’t have a good way to reliably target the bombs; because of weather, flak, Smoke screens, whatever, we’d only have an accuracy of a few hundred feet at best, sometimes only within a few miles of the target. They just kind of fell where they fell, and we had to rely on dropping a huge number of them over a large area to achieve the results needed, like destroying factories or transport links. So, since the 1970s, the US in particular has been working on making bombing more accurate, as well as making the bombs more steerable, to reduce collateral damage and / or friendly fire incidents. This has resulted in the development of GBU – Guided bomb units. These now are GPS guided – you mount a small computer which has a GPS link and they have steering fins in the tail, powered by a small electric motor, which allow them to steer themselves to the target. Back in my day, GBU used inertial steering and were reliant on good map skills from the people calling in the air strikes; this resulted in a few blue-on-blue incidents, which GPS has done a lot to resolve. More about how this is used now, with the evolution of ‘strategic’ aircraft like the B52, B2, and B1B, in a little bit.
Now about how they explode - the fuses can be set in different ways and are activated by a spinning thing that turns based on air moving over it; it has to turn a number of times before it lines up the firing pin that makes the fuse make the bomb go bang. The standard fuse settings include proximity (goes off a certain height above ground), impact (goes off when it hits the ground), or delay (goes off seconds, minutes, or even hours or days later). HoG detonation is for destroying structures like buildings; having a 500lb bomb go off 10 feet above ground causes massive shockwaves that will destroy buildings and spread wide. Impact makes for big craters – good for destroying hardened structures and roads, runways, etc… Delayed impact is nasty – that means they go off when troops or people come out to survey the damage and get blown up, or after the bomb has penetrated more deeply into the soil, for taking things out like underground bunkers and caves. The bomb fuses are wired to the bomb racks, and the pilot can then choose from the cockpit which fuse is ‘active’ when the bomb is dropped as there are at least two fuses in the bomb, wired to different detonation types.
The guided bombs are now called JDAM – Joint Direct Attack Munition (Joint because it was developed cooperatively between the USAF and the USN). It’s still a MK82, 83, or 84 ‘bomb’ but with extra bits on the outside that allow it to guide itself to the target, using a combination of inertial guidance and GPS, with a range of up to 15 nautical miles; this changes the nomenclature from MK82/83/84, to GBU82/83/84, with the GBU standing for Guided Bomb Unit, and the 82/83/84 identifying the weight of the munition – 82 (500lb), 83 (1000lb), and 84 (2000lb).
There are also JSOWs. Joint Stand-off Weapons. They don’t have a rocket motor, but have a much longer wingspan, allowing them to be dropped from well outside the range of air defence systems; they have a range of between 12 to 70 nautical miles, depending on how high up they’re dropped.
There are also air to ground missiles, like the AGM-65 Maverick, which can be laser, GPS, or manually (TV) guided. Troops on the ground can call in a strike, and the Maverick flies much quicker than a bomb; a jet loitering some distance off can fire a Maverick, well out of harm’s way, and the Maverick will strike the target very quickly and very accurately. Quite useful to attack a specific target, without too much risk of collateral damage, and as the missile is flying flat it will be able to strike at an angle that might be difficult to hit with a bomb. This is where some of the videos of missiles literally flying into windows of buildings, moving vehicles, or doors of hangers came from. Some AGM systems are radar guided – the AGM-88 HARM is a high-speed anti-radiation missile. It locks in on ground-based missile systems like Surface to Air Missile sites, and takes out the SAM Radar, making the SAM less accurate without their ground radar.
Finally – ALCMs– ALCM is Air Launched Cruise Missile, like the Tomahawk, they can carry either a conventional or nuclear warhead, and are generally fired from larger planes like the B1, B2, or B52. ALCMs are like mini-planes, with motors and guidance packages, and have a range of hundreds / thousands of miles; they can be launched from aircraft like B-52s (hence ALCM) or even from subs or surface ships.
The thing is – missiles are faster than bombs in hitting targets, and they have a much longer range from the aircraft dropping them in most cases, BUT they carry a lighter explosive load and are WAY more expensive. A 500lb bomb has like 190lb of explosives but costs (minus any guidance package) like $2,000; with a guidance package maybe $15-20k each; a Maverick missile has 136lb but costs $100k minimum; a HARM has a 150lb warhead but costs almost $200k. ALCMs have a big payload, and reduce the risk of aircraft in theatre being shot down as well as can be launched from ground platforms, but cost in the range of $200k+.
Some specialist bombs –
· One I particularly like, but I don’t think was ever used, is the Durandal. This is a mixed missile / bomb; it was dropped from the aircraft, a parachute came out and made the bomb go fully vertical, then a rocket motor fired it into the ground. It was designed for taking out underground fuel tanks and runways; because it fired into the ground at such a huge speed, it would penetrate very deep, making a HUGE crater and / or blowing up underground fuel tanks quite effectively; I don’t believe it was ever used in anger though.
· Fuel Air Munitions – spray a huge cloud of petroleum in a massive radius, then generate a fire inside the cloud; incinerates everything in the radius of the fuel cloud with a couple of thousand degree fireball.
· The MOAB – basically a pallet of explosives, loaded into the back of a C-130, that is then thrown out the back and detonated. The largest non-nuclear bomb in the arsenal, but not massively useful TBH – more of a ‘shock and awe’ psy-ops weapon than a truly useful one.
· Cluster Bombs – Called CBUs, cluster bombs are area denial weapons. They can be loaded with bomblets that do various things – anti-personal, anti-armour, or even air-scatterable land mines; when the CBU is dropped, they split open in the air and spread the bomblets over a much larger area. They’re pretty close to a war crime in many ways, as they are notorious for the bomblets not all exploding when they should, so leaving unexploded ordnance lying around, and the bomblets are small so curious civilians might pick one up and then they explode. But they undeniably work; they scatter their bomblets over a wide area and are really quite good at blowing up stuff that’s close together, including people, unhardened structures, and unarmoured vehicles. I still have the arming loop from a CBU-87 that I loaded on an F-16 that was dropped on an Iraqi SAM site in 1993; I don’t know if the bomb I loaded killed people, but I’d bet it did.
· Penetration munitions – bunker busters. Have a hardened steel shell to allow them to penetrate much deeper into the ground or structures, before exploding.
So how does this all work?
Firstly, you choose a loadout, and that is mission variable. The F-16s I worked on (the F-15A is an air superiority fighter and didn’t do bombs; that’s the F-15e Strike Eagle) all carried 2x AIM-9 sidewinders and 2x AIM-120 AMRAAMS (see previous post for how these work) + 510 rnds 20mm High Explosive (HE) gun ammo on all missions. 2x 570-gallon wing tanks to extend the range of the fighter, as well as a center-line Electronics Countermeasures Pod (ECM), then had 2 weapons stations that would be configured for the specific mission.
· Package 1: The F-16, F-15, and F-18 have under-wing weapons pylons would have a Multiple Ejector Rack (MER) that had 3 hardpoints; each hardpoint would carry a MK82 500lb GP bomb, with or without a guidance package. So 6 total MK82s.
· Package 2: On the MER we’d load 2 CBU-87 cluster bombs on each, so 4x CBU-87s per aircraft
· Package 3: No MER, each wing pylon would have 1 MK84 2000lb bomb, so 2x total
· Package 4: No MER; each wing pylon would carry 1x AGM-65 Maverick missile, so 2x total
· Package 5: No MER, each wing pylon would carry 1x AGM-88 HARM so 2x total
The F-35 has stealth characteristics, so to preserve ‘stealth’ it also has internal weapons stations – from Wikipedia:
“To preserve its stealth shaping, the F-35 has two internal weapons bays with four weapons stations. The two outboard weapon stations each can carry ordnance up to 2,500 lb (1,100 kg), or 1,500 lb (680 kg) for the F-35B, while the two inboard stations carry air-to-air missiles. Air-to-surface weapons for the outboard station include the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Paveway series of bombs, Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), and cluster munitions (Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser). The station can also carry multiple smaller munitions such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), GBU-53/B SDB II, and SPEAR 3 anti-tank missiles; up to four SDBs can be carried per station for the F-35A and F-35C, and three for the F-35B.[158][159][160] The inboard station can carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM. Two compartments behind the weapons bays contain flares, chaff), and towed decoys.[161]”
The F-35 has the option to carry under-wing pylons but generally sticks with the internal bomb bays to keep their stealth working. The B-52, B1 and B2 have internal bomb bays that carry hundreds of GP bombs (guided or not) as well as potentially wing pylons that carry loads more, as well as ALCMs and JSOWs and JDAMs.
During Operation Northern Watch, which was us patrolling the northern no-fly zone of Iraq, depending on the mission – patrol, or Defence Suppression (‘Wild Weasel’) we would form a 4-aircraft flight of F-16s who would stick together in 2 pairs. Generally you’d have 1 or 2 aircraft flying HARMs, 1 or 2 with Mavericks or CBU or MK82s; then you could address any potential strike required, whether that be striking a ground target directly or supressing a SAM site that was stupid enough to light up the flight of F-16s with their radar or make other efforts to attack allied aircraft.
Now over Bosnia, we just flew MK82s with guidance units; we didn’t have any ground-based radar to worry about much and didn’t want to use CBUs as too many potential civilian targets about. We didn’t fly the MK84s much unless we were going to hit a particular thing, as frankly a MK84 is overkill most of the time.
Second, how do you attack a ground target? Very carefully 😊… and this is where you have two (or even three) different tactics.
Say you’re a soldier on the ground, and you want to bomb a target a mile away that’s been shooting mortars at you.
Option 1 - If you’ve got a flight of fighter bombers like F-16s, F-15es, or F-18s assigned to your unit to provide air support, you call them on the radio, say where you are, tell them where the target is (using GPS references), double check you haven’t given them the wrong target, and then say ‘go’. Ground units have a forward air controller (FAC) who hangs out with them to do this job of calling in air strikes. The jets fly in, drop their bombs, and fly away. With tanker support, you can keep an F-16 flying for a good long time – multiple hours – and they will stay in pretty close touch with the ground units they’re tasked with supporting. If enemy aircraft show up, they can jettison fuel tanks and weapons pods and turn into air superiority fighters quickly to defend themselves (and / or the transport or command and control aircraft) but they are quite vulnerable to ground-based portable surface to air missile systems (called MANPADS now). To combat this, they fly either very high (over 20k feet) or very low and very fast (less than 2k feet). That’s what the Ukrainian pilots do, because 1) they don’t have full control of the air; fighters from Russia are often flying over Ukrainian air space and shoot down Ukrainian planes, and 2) there are lots of Russian ground pounders with MANPADS that would make their lives quite difficult. Luckily, from what video I’ve seen, Ukrainian pilots are totally nuts and seem to love flying below tree top level in their fast jets 😊. From what I’ve learned, the Air Force takes the fly high approach to avoid ground fire, which the troops often don’t like (they worry about friendly fire being more likely), whereas the Marine air wings take the opposite approach and fly very low. I don’t have the numbers to say one is better than the other, but there are different ways to do this.
Option 2: The alternative, and a much more common way now of providing air support, is to call in an air strike from a loitering B-52 or B-1 or B-2. The B-52, the USAF’s longest-serving aircraft by some margin, has been converted from a strategic bomber carrying loads of nukes to bomb targets in Russia, to a multi-mission aircraft. You can load them up with lots of different bomb types – from old-school MK82 slicks to GBUs to CBUs to Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCM), and they fly very high, way out of range of any kind of ground-launched anti-aircraft system of guns or missiles, and they basically fly big racetrack patterns over a combat zone and carry hundreds of bombs. The boots on the ground say ‘Drop a bomb here’ and the capabilities of the weapon itself, with guidance packages and wings and whatnot, allow the bombs to be dropped from a long ways away, potentially hundreds of miles, and still hit the target very accurately and very quickly.
Option 3: ALCMs from hundreds of miles away. Problem here is it takes time to aim and fire, then again more time for flying to the target; ALCMs are generally slower than fighters.
So there you go – I can try to dig out details of how the aiming and bombing systems work on various aircraft if there’s interest.

It's Friday and we're squeezing out the last bits of news from Watches and Wonders. Let's dive in:

What's new

1/
Piaget Goes Ultra Thin And Ultra Luxurious With Their Perpetual Calendar Polo

• Piaget revived their 1979 Polo watch back in 2016 and have been tinkering with it ever since - using different precious metals, playing around with complications. Right before Watches and Wonders this year, Piaget teased that they will be making a 42mm steel model with a 4mm-thin 1255P caliber to power a triple calendar correct until the year 2100 and a moonphase indication called the Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin.Then, yesterday at the show they did a little switcheroo and came storming out with another two ultra thin perpetual calendar Polo models - one in rose gold and one in white gold.
• The 18K rose gold model comes with a green dial with rose gold hands and matching accents. I’ll repeat: the watch is powered by the 1255P movement that has a moonphase display along with day, date, year, and leap year, accurate to the year 2100. And it’s only 4mm thick. It is not a cheap watch. CHF 72,500.Then there’s the white gold model. Instead of the green dial, it gets a blue obsidian dial, meaning that no two dials are the same. The bezel is set with deep blue sapphires and the watch comes on a blue aligator strap. For this white gold Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin, the price is available upon request.

2/
Want A Rectangular Watch But Cartier and Reverso Are Out Of Your Price Range? Baume & Mercier Has Your Back
Every collection needs a rectangular watch. The newly released Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph will likely go down as the hit of Watches and Wonders 2023, as it is universally loved. What’s less loved is the price - $21,400 in steel and $37,400 in pink gold.
If you want to pull off a rectangular watch at a lower price, you might want to look at the Baume & Mercier Hampton lineup which was just updated towards the end of WW23 with three new models:
First off is the midsize Reference 10732 with a blue dial and stainless case that measures 43mm x 27.5mm. Inside is a BM 72671 auto winding movement, which is based on the ETA 2671. Even though the watch comes on a blue alligator strap, it has a 50 meter water resistance rating. Priced at $2,700.
Then there’s the Reference 10740. It’s pretty much the same watch in terms of case and dimensions, but it comes with a silvery-white dial with fine grey minute track. Unlike the 10732, it comes as a two-hander and is powered by a Swiss quartz movement and it’s mounted on a stainless bracelet. You can get it for $1,900.
Lastly, there’s the 10709. It’s smaller, at 34.9 x 22.2mm and just under 7mm thin. The case is set with 28 VS-quality brilliant cut diamonds, which flank the sides, and twin diamonds at 12 an 6 on the blue dial. The movement is Swiss quartz and it also comes on a blue alligator strap. It’s expensive for a quartz watch, but not as crazy for so many diamonds - $3,250.
3/
Alpina’s Updates Join The Ranks Of Integrated Bracelet Sports Watches
Alpina has been making relatively inoffensive and affordable, with an occasional dud or hit, for 140 years. At Watches and Wonders they showed off two new versions of the Alpiner Extreme collection, now with an integrated steel bracelet (instead of rubber) in an automatic and regulator variant.
The Automatic comes in a 41mm × 42.5mm cushion-shaped case that’s 11.5mm thick. In addition to a new bracelet, Alpina also introduces two new dial colors - a vibrant blue and gray. Inside is the brand’s AL-525 caliber, which is based on the Sellita SW200-1 with 38 hours of power reserve. With the metal bracelet comes in at €1,995 which is middle-of-the-road pricing. Could be cheaper, but there are also more expensive watches with the same quality.
Then there are the two new Alpina Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic models. The first model adds the same stainless steel bracelet to the watch as the regular Automatic models, with roughly the same case size (0.5mm thicker). The watch has a blue dial with two gray sub-dials for the regulator layout with a separate display for hours, minutes, and seconds. The second Regulator model comes with a fully black dial.
Powering the watch is Alpina’s automatic AL-650 caliber, which is also based on a Sellita movement. As such, it has 31 jewels, ticks at 28,800vph, and has a 38-hour power reserve. Regarding the layout, the movement features a central minute hand, running seconds at 6 o’clock, and an hour display at 10 o’clock.
Alpina will produce 888 pieces of each of the two Regulator models. The blue/gray version with the bracelet will be available for €2,450, whereas the black-dial model on the rubber strap will be €2,150.
4/
Speake-Marin Releases Two New Watches
I will admit I have never handled a Speake-Marin in the flesh. I have, however, seen a lot of photos of their watches. And, for the life of me, I don’t understand why they sell for tens of thousands of dollars. I get that they have their own movement, but the Ripples models have an intersting case shape, they also have a slightly cheap look to them. It is possible that they just don’t photograph well and are stunning live. But are they?
Now the brand introduces two new Ripples models. One is a new color - a bright blue that the brand calls Ripples Blue Jeans. This model is limited to 60 pieces, but it’s not much of a limitation since the brand only makes 100 Ripples models per year, but it will set you back CHF23,000. Then there’s the Ripples Date which, you guessed it, adds a date window. Yours for CHF23,900.
5/
Arnold & Son Ultrathin Tourbillon, The Brand’s Most Recognizable Model Gets An Opaline Dial
Arnold & Son has always been known for their exquisite dials and fine finished movements. Now they’re coming out with a new Ultrathin Tourbillon edition in a red gold case with a silver-toned opaline dial.
While not much changes in general (still 41.5mm, with an dial at 12 o’clock and the tourbillon aperture below at 6), the new dial is a looker. The hour sub-dial is made of genuine white opal, while the main dial displays a silver-toned opaline finish. Inside is the A&S8300 calibre, with a power reserve of up to 100 hours.
The New Arnold & Son Ultrathin Tourbillon Gold will be produced as a limited edition of 88 pieces, and the price is CHF 70,000, taxes included.
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On hand - a selection of review

1/
First review of the burgundy-bezeld Tudor Black Bay 41
2/
Love it or hate it, the Salmon-Dialed MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual Calendar looks like a blast to own
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Watch Worthy - A look at an offbeat, less known watch you might actually like

The 1941 Grönograaf is an award winning, ultra-limited, chronograph
From Wei Koh: “Bart and Tim Grönefeld grew up in a watchmaking family, and together they have propelled their eponymous brand to enormous success in independent watchmaking and haute horlogerie. Here’s a closer look at the 1941 Grönograaf, which is the brand’s first chronograph.”
The 1941 Grönograaf looks stunning, but not many of us are in the market for a EUR 150,000 watch
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If you would like to receive some additional watch-adjacent content, as well as this news overview, every morning Monday-Friday in the form of a newsletter feel free to subscribe. However, there is absolutely no need for you to subscribe, as all the news from the newsletter is posted here. It is only if you want to receive a couple of daily links that are not strictly watch-related and want to get this news overview in your inbox.

Hello! A family member in Michigan who was an avid diver had heart surgery recently and, while they are recovering smoothly, their doctors have informed them that they can no longer dive. I am hoping to help them sell their gear which was top of the line and well cared for. I am not a diver myself but I was the most familiar with selling things online so I am trying my best to help. Here's the list that they complied for me.
Tanks:
2 Steel 100’s, right valve, hydro 5/2020, vis 3/22 filled with air, sidemount
bands
1 Steel 100, right valve, hydro 9/20, vis 3/22, air filled, sidemount bands
Steel 50, right valve, hydro 3/22, vis 3/22, sidemount bands, air filled
Steel 50, left valve, hydro 3/22, sidemount bands, air filled
2 Alum 40’s, right valve, hydro 5/21, vis 5/21, 50% nitrox filed
1 Alum 30, left valve, hydro 5/21, vis 5/21, filled with TBD
Drysuits;
DUI XL-S Flex Extreme-Elite Overlay Blue/White on Black, new
heavy-duty plastic zipper, new zip neck and wrist seals, Kubi dry glove
system, attached tech boots size 10.5
DUI Actionwear Pro XL, 2-piece underwear, black
Fourth Element Argonaut Flex-Black, custom fit for me when I weighed
around175 lbs, 5ft 8in tall but sized to accommodate the Halo undie,
size10.5 attached tech boots, Kubi dry glove system, heavy duty plastic
zipper. zip seals
Fourth Element Halo 3D, black undersuit, size large
Regulators;
2 Apeks Tek 3, right and left 1st and 2nd stage each with long hoses,
analog pressure gauge, and drysuit hose.
2 AquaLung Legend’s 1st and 2nd stage.
AquaLung Titan 2nd stage
Computers:
Shearwater Perdix with transmitter
Suunto Cobra air-integrated console
​
BCD;
AquaLung Axiom i3 large, black
DiveRite Nomad XT Sidemount harness large, black with 2 attached
weight pockets, attached line cutter, attached pouch with100 lb lift bag, and
a clip-on tech bag that fits a spare dive mask, tech scissor, and fold up
knife included,
Lights;
2 Dive Rite BX2 Handheld lights with rechargeable batteries and
recharger
Dive Rite Soft Handmount
QRM for Dive Rite light
Reels;
Dive Rite Classic Safety Reel 140 ft of a white line, stainless steel handle,
lockdown screw with retaining screw ensures it can’t come off, and a
marine grade bolt snap.
Dive Rite 60ft finger spool with marine grade double-ended bolt snap.
Etc.
Din Pressure Gauge
Eurmax Canopy 10x10 Grey commercial grade, steel frame, 4 removable
zippered sidewalls, roller bag, heavy duty waterproof fabric, awning, sand
bags.
2 Yolk to Din adapters
Dive tools
Weights
Lots of parts and pieces

Thinking of buying a gorgeous bus, hoping to live in it full time as my partner and I are both disabled and need space away from people and access to move around with all of our needs being met all the time.
I've been reading, and it's really back and forth on what people think of the 6.0 diesel. It's honestly the only drawback(?) I'm seeing. They've gotten the batteries replaced, and a coolant leak fixed.
Would you buy this? ($35,000) They're gunna go down a bit for the broken AC and some cosmetic stuff.
"Fully loaded 2007 Ford E450 super duty 6.0 diesel motorhome which includes the following: - 20 Gallon Freshwater Tank 5 Gallon Grey Water Sink with hot running water 400w of Solar 2000w inverter 240 AH battery RV 30 amp hookups - Dometic RV fridge Full queen bed + two single bunks Openable marine hatch - Portable toilet Recently had some work done (there was a coolant leak) and had the batteries replaced This vehicle has 266,000km and was previously used as a BC transit bus which was very well maintained. It has been converted into an RV and since then all oil changes and maintenance has been done when required (receipts available). A safety has been done recently and all of the major work that was needed has been completed, including a new turbo and brakes. It has been registered as an RV so you will save on insurance. Bus is ready to go for more adventures"

I purchased a singer alternator but before installing it I wanted to check how much voltage drop I'm getting during bass hits. Turns out only .1 volts. I don't understand this.
I turned on my AC, headlights, interior lights, & fog lights to really put load on the electrical system during this test.
MY SETUP: -Big 4 upgraded to 0 gauge OFC -9 month old AGM battery -Only 1 run of 0 gauge to the amp. -Amp: JP23 V2 set to I'm guessing 4v on the gain dial. The dial reads .2 - 6v & it's seeing 1-ohm -Headunit set to max volume before clipping -subwoofer output, on headunit, set to max -RCA sub pre-outs read .63v from both left and right RCAs when at max headunit volume before clipping -13.9v read at the amp until bass note drops then it goes to 13.8v THIS IS AT IDLE 800rpms -factory alternator says 160amps -Subs are rated for 2500RMS wired to 1ohm
I don't understand how my voltage is not dropping. It's as if I shouldn't have bought a HO alternator.
What gives?

First - Previous
“Goddammit,” I yelled. “That is the fifth hit on engine two. Powell, two is offline!”
“On it!” My flight engineer, master sergeant Craig Powell called.
Marine assault shuttles were made for the rigors of combat, both in atmosphere and out. They could take hellacious amounts of damage and still limp home. But the storm had thrown more than a dozen lightning strikes on the Blind Luck in the past minute. Multiple breakers had tripped, and Powell had worked frantically to reset them before the shuttle lost power.
“Major, these lightning bolts are four times as powerful as anything I’ve ever seen. Just about every friggin computer is resetting. My engine two’s offline, so are the shield generators and AG three and four are glitching.” he called. “We’ve got two minutes until the computers finish rebooting. But I recommend we get above this damned storm!”
I keyed my radio and called the colonel, “Sir, the Blind Luck has taken some damage. These lighting strikes are no joke.”
“What is your status Sven?” Colonel Averyt asked.
“The computers are bouncing like bad checks. I think every breaker has tripped at least once.”
“Can you make it back here?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
“Ummmm… that’s a hard maybe, sir. I got a third of my antigravity generators offline. They may come back after the computers reset. But without them there is no way I am breaking gravity.”
“Shit.”
“If I cannot get above this storm, we’re going to get fried,” I answered. “And my passengers won’t like that.”
“Don’t even try to make orbit,” he ordered. “Come to heading two-nineteen. Drop to 3.5 kilometers and head to LZ Tango-Two-Two. The Hot Rock and Bad Axe are on the ground there. If your bird is DOA, you can stay on the ground with them and the field hospital while we get a repair crew in place. And if something happens, we have SAR assets nearby.”
“Well that just gives me the warm and fuzzies,” my copilot, WO2 Aracely Calderón said.
I keyed the ship wide intercom, “Sorry about the bumpy ride folks. We are diverting back to ground. Strap in securely and fix helmets. Be prepared to ditch.”
My three passengers were all veterans and familiar with shuttle crash protocols.
“AG three is stable for now,” Powell yelled. “But half the computers are stuck in a reset loop. Sir, we gotta get this bird on the ground now. If we don’t land, we will fucking crash.”
“Colonel, I am calling it. We are heading dirtside.”
“Do what you need to do to get it down in one piece. If you lose it, eject. That is an order. Do not try to ride it down to save it. How copy?”
“Good copy, colonel. If we lose the bird, we are to eject. No heroics,” I confirmed. “The last thing I want to do is go down in a blaze of glory.”
“Ejecting in this soup won’t be any fun,” Calderón said. “So, let’s keep us in the air, please.”
“Major, if you could convince the old girl to live up to her name, please?” Powell pleaded. “Maybe call her the Lady Luck.”
“I would pray if I were you,” I replied. “A lot.”
“Already doing that, sir,” Powell replied grimly. “For like, ten minutes.”
“That’s all? You’re a bit slow,” Calderón laughed a bit maniacally.
Two more strikes hit the shuttle in quick succession. My control screens blacked out momentarily and when they came back on, they were glitching and flickering.
“Aw, shit. That ain’t good,” Calderón muttered as she slapped her screens.
“Engine two is gone for good, sir,” Powell called. “And the reactor one is in emergency shut down. Two is handling the load for now, but…”
“Right. Get the bird on the ground ASAP. Hold on. Time to drop like a rock.”
I cut the antigravity and pulled in the variable geometry wings to the minimum sweep, just enough to give me airfoil controls for maneuverability. I banked hard to the right, putting us into a tight spiral. It was the fastest way down if I wanted to maintain control. Without full power, we did not have the inertial dampeners working at full strength. The g-forces pressed me into the seat, and I grunted through the breathing exercises.
I would never know what caused it, but the fuel cell for reactor one blew. The hydrogen powered explosion ripped the left wing off entirely. The loss caused the shuttle to barrel roll uncontrollably.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Blind Luck is going down. Ejecting!” I called, hoping the radio was still working.
I triggered the ejection command for the entire crew. Unlike the first crude ejection seats, modern seats ensured survival about ninety-eight percent of the time if within atmosphere. The seat itself was a chromilstyn tub. As the ejector sent me through the deck head above me, the canopy of the pod mated to the seat, surrounding me in a chromilstyn cocoon.
It was airtight and able to withstand both the vacuum of space and deep sea pressures. The pods have inertial dampeners, though nothing like the shuttles. They were enough to keep you alive. Under normal circumstances, the air brakes, parachutes, and antigravity systems should slow you down and land securely.
Calderón and Powell obviously reacted faster, and their seats ejected before mine. I could not see the passenger’s pods as they eject to the sides. My pod had barely cleared the hull when the entire shuttle blew. It felt like the hand of God slapped me. The sound was something I cannot accurately describe.
If not for the advanced tech in the pod, I would be dead. As it was, the screaming alarms meant that systems were damaged by the blast. I tried to read the screen, but the g-forces whipped my body so severely, I could not hold my head steady enough to see. Then the screens died.
“Fuck!” I yelled, hoping my radio still worked. “Mayday! My pod is damaged. Computers are fried and I am unable to stabilize the descent. Manually popping air brakes.”
I pulled a lever at my left knee and felt the airbrakes deploy, turning the entire pod into a unpowered missile pointing at the ground. The fins caused the uncontrollable tumbling to diminish, leaving the pod corkscrewing groundward.
As the pod stabilized, I pulled a second lever at my left knee. The first trio of chutes billowed out. But in the wind, they fought to grab air. They slowed my descent, and I jettisoned them before they tangled too severely.
The third lever I pulled caused a pair of counterrotating triple rotor blades to deploy, autorotating freely in the slip stream. As they spun to speed, I manually adjusted the trim, causing the blades to bite into air and providing lift like an ancient helicopter. The pod slowed further, and I alternated the trim settings to gain rotor speed and then reverse for lift.
“We got you on scope. Looks like you are going to land in a shallow sea,” the colonel said. “We are scrambling all SAR assets.”
“My people?” I wonder how he can be so calm. I could hear the stress in my own voice. I had trained for this hundreds of times, but this was the first time for real.
“They are fine. Their pods are undamaged. Looks like they will land near a village the maps name P’loggu. We already have some people there.”
“Great. Deploying chutes.”
“What’s my altitude?”
“Six hundred meters,” the colonel replied. “Is your antigravity completely shot?”
“I have no power to the computers, so it doesn’t matter. I’d have no control. Popping second chute.”
The second trio of chutes deployed slowing my descent further, but I started swinging like a pendulum in the high winds. Good thing I don’t get motion sick. Luckily, it was not bad enough to cause me to jettison them.
“Two hundred meters,” the colonel said. “One fifty… one hundred… fifty… ten…”
“Deploying flotation bags. Well, fuck me. Two are dead in the water, literally. There’s no way I will stay afloat in this shit. And with the rough seas, abandoning the pod for a raft is stupid. Besides, we have no idea what predators live in these oceans. I don’t want to become some big beasts next meal.”
“Depth there is fifty meters or so. If you go down, the pod can handle it. We will get a rescue team there ASAP. I can’t lose my XO. I haven’t abused you enough yet.”
“I’ve been meaning to take some time off, so I guess I will just hang out here for bit, sir. Catch up on my beauty sleep.”
“Beauty sleep? You’d sleep a hundred years and still be ugly,” the colonel laughed. “Hang tight, Sven. Help will be there as soon as this storm dies down.”
“With my luck that will be thirty days or more. Guess if you take too long, I can hit myself with hybernol and sleep through it. God, I hate that stuff.”
“Nobody likes it,” the colonel agreed.
The pod tilted sideways, almost laying on its side. I slapped the computers a few times, hoping in vain that a little percussive maintenance would reset them.
“It’s official. I am sinking. Jettisoning the floats.”
I pulled one final lever and the flotation bags cut loose. I could feel the pod sink beneath the rough surface. After just a few seconds, the ocean’s movements subsided, and the pod was still. I could here the sounds of the water pressure squeezing the chromilstyn armor. After a few loud pops, I could feel water at my ankles. Chromilstyn was the hardest substance man had created but even so, these pods’ skins are paper thin. Just enough to provide protection during an ejection but the seams between the seat structure and the canopy were a weak point.
“Ah, colonel, I have a problem. Pod integrity is compromised. I got a leak.”
I had my suit on with helmet sealed. Connected to the pod’s oxygen and power, I could survive underwater for ten days. The water pressure shouldn’t be an issue.
Fifty meters underwater on Terra would be 4.9 Bar, which a standard human can survive. On Nya Österlen, it would be 6.35 Bar. Here fifty meters was a measly 3.9. That was nothing for a normal Österlender, and I was trained for more. By the time I hit the bottom, my suit showed fourty-three meters, easily survivable for me.
“I am on the bottom. I am at an angle a bit, but that means I can lay down. My suit is handling it fine. Battery power at ninety-eight percent. Oxygen supplies are at a hundred percent.”
I waited and did not get a reply. “Colonel?”
Nothing.
“I guess I am too deep for the radio or the water knocked it out,” I said to myself.
Now, I just had to kill time and boredom. I pulled up my playlist and set it to play random songs until I fell asleep. Not like I had much else to do.