Episode 247 - 2:22 (Live in Portland)

[Bat Facts 11]

The average annual salary for an air traffic controller was $118,430 as of May 2012, according to the Bureau or Labor Statistics. The top 10 percent earned more than $171,340 per year. The federal government paid air traffic controllers an average of $121,470.

According to Glass Door the average income for pilot: $78,566/yr

Assuming these figures are accurate, and they probably vary a bit, that’s a $40k pay cut, with a LOT of traveling. Probably not the best choice choice for a new father. 

 

[Cam Bert 8145]

Let's talk astronomy and what this movie got right, wrong and very wrong. First the right. Hamal is indeed a star that is part of the Aries constellation and yes technically during that period of  April the Aries constellation would be visible from New York from roughly 7 AM to 8 PM. Now the wrong. They start off by saying that the star Hamal is going supernova but it is nowhere near going supernova. This is a very rare occurrence. The next major star to go supernova would be Betelgeuse and that's estimated to be in within 100,000 years which in astronomy is fairly soon. In fact we know when a star will go supernova because it's light gets dimmer and dimmer which happens over centuries and as far as we know this has not been happening to Hamal at all as it is still one of the 50 brightest stars. Finally, what they got very wrong and by very wrong I mean none of the writers thought to use google level wrong. Throughout the film we are shown the constellation of "Aries" and it is depicted as three stars making a triangular shape. This fits it with the three people that died in 1986 being reincarnated and repeating 30 years later part of the story. This is very thematic but unfortunately... that's not the constellation Aries. Aries has three prominent stars but there is also a forth star that is part of it. The bigger problem is that these three prominent stars don't make a triangular shape at all but more of a line with a hooked end shape.  So why the confusion? Right by Aries is another constellation called Triangulum which as you can guess by the name is three stars that do very much make a triangle. In fact when we see the mural in Grand Central Station you can see Triangulum above Aries's head. It is this constellation that we see throughout the movie when we cut to the constellation in the sky and the triangular shaped imagery. The real Aries at Grand Central Station only has two of it's four stars prominently highlighted. This movie arbitrarily throws one more highlighted star but puts it in the wrong spot and wrong direction so it can in fact make a triangle. 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

Don't tell June but our Air Traffic Control system as a whole is deeply fucked. It's apparently outdated, understaffed, and underfunded. Many employees have been fired and it's only gotten worse since the pandemic. I read this truly terrifying blog post that was written last year during the shutdown of last year when LaGuardia shut down because people called out sick in protest. Here are some of the highlights (aka the moments when I wondered if i should ever fly which is something I love. I honestly feel safer and happier in a plane than in a car which I'm terrified of.) 

"You see, the ATC is a bit of a mess. Underfunded and at times badly managed, the FAA's NextGen air traffic control began replacing older systems more than 10 years ago in 2007. It's not scheduled to be completed until 2025, and that was before Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, which includes a 2 percent FAA's budget reduction.

At the same time, Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), which has been in the works since 2000, is slowly completing its rollout. It's scheduled to finally be in place at the end of the year. Then, and only then, will the US finally have a single national software and hardware ATC system." 

 

"As for those TV shows and movies showing advanced equipment suited for a starship? That's fantasy. So are -- fortunately -- death-defying crashes, as a controller dies at the mic and planes collide in mid-air.  

Air traffic control, especially at the airport level, is still very low-tech. Nothing beats the good old, mark-one eyeball when a plane is within visual range of a runway.

This, of course, requires bright, alert workers with their wits focused on their job, rather than, say, how they'll make their next mortgage payment. There are currently about 14,000 FAA air traffic controllers. But, with their great responsibility and the sheer scale of their work, it only takes having a few not at work to cripple the country's air traffic."

Knowing the crashes are not something that happens often made me feel better but I'm still not sure how I feel knowing that it's all pretty much manual eyeball work ! I like the comfort of thinking it's Star Trek up there. Give me this false sense of safety please. I read several other articles a while ago about how the TSA actually hasn't done much of anything to improve our safety and is also a security blanket that just makes us FEEL safer but that's another story for another time. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-the-air-traffic-control-system-works-and-fails/

 

Here are a few older articles on how deeply fucked we all are:

How we are understaffed: https://money.cnn.com/2015/10/14/news/economy/air-traffic-controllers/index.html apparently at their lowest in 27 years at the time of this article but that was 2015. I imagine it's only worse now. 

https://www.economist.com/international/2019/06/15/air-traffic-control-is-a-mess a really interesting looking article from the Economist that I can't read because I refuse to give them my email. But if one of you jerks is fancy and smart and have access somehow and would be so kind as to copy and paste it to me in a dm I would love you forever as only a nerd who loves free articles can! Is this ethical? no. Do I have a bone to pick with the Economist for being to expensive for me to ever afford a subscription after my uncle told me to get one to help me with my ACT's? Yes. 

 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 8/28/2020 at 11:11 PM, The_Triple_Lindy said:

This movie should've just been called "Red Flags Ignored" ... Sarah becomes immediately invested in a guy she's known less than a week, and when he totally makes a sense at her place of work, and then starts talking crazy about letters, and she becomes convinced he's gone mad, she should have said, "to hell with this ... I just got out of a too-intense relationship with a long-haired moody psycho model asshat -- I don't need this shit in my life." 

Look sometimes you live in a red flag factory 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 8/29/2020 at 5:34 PM, The_Triple_Lindy said:

That reminds me:

When Dylan decides to start writing everything down, the first thing he grabs is a roll of paper (wax paper? shelving paper?) from what looks like a kitchen drawer. Among the items in the drawer is a random piece of oddly folded aluminum foil ...

... and is that a hat? Is that a tinfoil hat? Is there any other plausible explanation for pre-worn, previously-crinkled tinfoil kept in a drawer like that? And if he's the kind of person who is prone to tinfoil-wearing to keep the satellites from reading his thoughts or whatever, then is this movie telling us upfront that Dylan's about to go totally off the deep end? That would call into question his entire reliability as a narrator and, I daresay, tosses the ending of this movie into Jacob's Ladder territory.

You obviously have never lived with a environmentalist  grandma who believed in washing and reusing aluminum foil, 

[muttnik 476]

I hated this movie, but I did wonder about Dylan's downstairs neighbor. Between the Olympic rings, glass partition smashing, and all manner of ranting and raving, that must have been rough stuff.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 8/30/2020 at 2:54 AM, Nick T. said:

Wasn’t Sadie aka “I’m Jason”’ (audience questions) incorrect about it being episode 222? Wasn’t it not even close? If true, hilarious since June kept saying “I don’t trust her.” Haha, Jason fangirl bit was super cringe.

 

RE: Pilot certifications and aircraft. I was about to begin a commercial pilot training program before the pandemic hit. So, I went deep into all the reqs and based on what I already know, there’s no way that guy is flying for Southwest like under a year later based on the fact alone that you need to log 1,500 hours with students as a certified flight instructor to be eligible to fly a commercial passenger plan (it doesn’t need to be with students, but that’s the only way someone other than a very wealthy person is going to be able to get 1,500 hours flying). And before you can be a certified flight instructor (CFI), you’ll be spending 7 months minimum getting your commercial pilot license (seven months in the shortest CPL program I’ve ever seen listed).
 

And, of course, you’ll need to get added training time on whatever specific type of commercial plane you’re going to fly. You can’t just jump in a passenger plane because you have gotten a commercial pilot license.bEven a highly favored Southwest cadet (cadets are pilots in training that are part of a commercial airline’s training program) couldn’t do it that fast. Cadet spots are coveted and typically go to young folks since they want to get the maximum career mileage out of you to justify their expenses. Plus, forget being a commercial pilot if there’s anything in your medical, legal or discoverable history that establishes drug use, alcohol abuse or psychiatric issues. 

So based on all this evidence do we think he just walks around in a pilot's outfit he bought somehow? Is he trying to go full Secret here and manifest to the universe his dreams?

[gigi-tastic 2322]

I'm now convinced this guy just had a psychotic break most of this movie never happened and he wonders JFK and the surrounding crash pad hotels in a pilot's outfit. Just muttering about time and scribbling on things

[jimkiler 84]

On 8/30/2020 at 9:05 PM, Bat Facts said:

The average annual salary for an air traffic controller was $118,430 as of May 2012, according to the Bureau or Labor Statistics. The top 10 percent earned more than $171,340 per year. The federal government paid air traffic controllers an average of $121,470.

According to Glass Door the average income for pilot: $78,566/yr

Assuming these figures are accurate, and they probably vary a bit, that’s a $40k pay cut, with a LOT of traveling. Probably not the best choice choice for a new father. 

 

You are assuming he wants to be with Sarah.  If he feels trapped and realized that he made a horrible decision but cannot actually divorce/leave her he could become a pilot in order to cheat on her when he is away.

[jimkiler 84]

10 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

Don't tell June but our Air Traffic Control system as a whole is deeply fucked. It's apparently outdated, understaffed, and underfunded. Many employees have been fired and it's only gotten worse since the pandemic. I read this truly terrifying blog post that was written last year during the shutdown of last year when LaGuardia shut down because people called out sick in protest. Here are some of the highlights (aka the moments when I wondered if i should ever fly which is something I love. I honestly feel safer and happier in a plane than in a car which I'm terrified of.) 

"You see, the ATC is a bit of a mess. Underfunded and at times badly managed, the FAA's NextGen air traffic control began replacing older systems more than 10 years ago in 2007. It's not scheduled to be completed until 2025, and that was before Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, which includes a 2 percent FAA's budget reduction.

At the same time, Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), which has been in the works since 2000, is slowly completing its rollout. It's scheduled to finally be in place at the end of the year. Then, and only then, will the US finally have a single national software and hardware ATC system." 

 

"As for those TV shows and movies showing advanced equipment suited for a starship? That's fantasy. So are -- fortunately -- death-defying crashes, as a controller dies at the mic and planes collide in mid-air.  

Air traffic control, especially at the airport level, is still very low-tech. Nothing beats the good old, mark-one eyeball when a plane is within visual range of a runway.

This, of course, requires bright, alert workers with their wits focused on their job, rather than, say, how they'll make their next mortgage payment. There are currently about 14,000 FAA air traffic controllers. But, with their great responsibility and the sheer scale of their work, it only takes having a few not at work to cripple the country's air traffic."

Knowing the crashes are not something that happens often made me feel better but I'm still not sure how I feel knowing that it's all pretty much manual eyeball work ! I like the comfort of thinking it's Star Trek up there. Give me this false sense of safety please. I read several other articles a while ago about how the TSA actually hasn't done much of anything to improve our safety and is also a security blanket that just makes us FEEL safer but that's another story for another time. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-the-air-traffic-control-system-works-and-fails/

 

Here are a few older articles on how deeply fucked we all are:

How we are understaffed: https://money.cnn.com/2015/10/14/news/economy/air-traffic-controllers/index.html apparently at their lowest in 27 years at the time of this article but that was 2015. I imagine it's only worse now. 

https://www.economist.com/international/2019/06/15/air-traffic-control-is-a-mess a really interesting looking article from the Economist that I can't read because I refuse to give them my email. But if one of you jerks is fancy and smart and have access somehow and would be so kind as to copy and paste it to me in a dm I would love you forever as only a nerd who loves free articles can! Is this ethical? no. Do I have a bone to pick with the Economist for being to expensive for me to ever afford a subscription after my uncle told me to get one to help me with my ACT's? Yes. 

 

You do not go far enough back, they tried to upgrade the systems in the 90's as confirmed by this article:  

 

https://reason.org/commentary/time-to-get-u-s-air-traffic-control-out-of-the-1960s/

 

So we are still stuck in 1960's tech despite other countries having working systems.  I remember news stories on this failure to convert to modern technology in the 90's.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

18 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

You obviously have never lived with a environmentalist  grandma who believed in washing and reusing aluminum foil, 

So again, maybe just evidence that his soul is grandma-aged? Saves and reuses aluminum, signs his texts, works out on rings like Charles Atlas, and scribbles his notes on old parchment rolls.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

Can I say that I've listened to this episode three times now and think it is one of the funniest they've done in a while and that I've laughed harder this week than I have in months?

Also, Paul, please ... we just GOT to hear more about June's self-reincarnation theories -- who she's reincarnated from, how her system works, when she started to believe this, the works. We "put it over there for a minute", but it's been many minutes now, so dish.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

8 hours ago, jimkiler said:

You do not go far enough back, they tried to upgrade the systems in the 90's as confirmed by this article:  

 

https://reason.org/commentary/time-to-get-u-s-air-traffic-control-out-of-the-1960s/

 

So we are still stuck in 1960's tech despite other countries having working systems.  I remember news stories on this failure to convert to modern technology in the 90's.

Gee thanks I really needed this anxiety!! Lol I'm kinda of kidding? I do know I was pulling stuff from 2005 up and mostly wanted to get you guys the most recent info. I was *hoping* that maybe there had been some changes since the older ones had been written but it doesn't look like it's been advanced much. A lot of the articles were on whether or not it should be funded via congress or this newish idea of a private sector thing that fell through. I don't know there were so many acronyms and letters I got very confused very fast.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 8/29/2020 at 5:51 PM, The_Other_MikeD said:

I'm told that could be his "stash" by reliable sources.

And the first thing he pulled out of his hipster drawer was parchment paper. You know the first thing you grab to write down something important. This would explain why the windows were written on like a scene out of Numb3rs.

 

Ok but was it like parchment parchment paper or ye old parchment paper? Because our boy could just be a baker. I think I even have some scraps off the last roll in my aluminum foil/ pot holder drawer I had from the cookie baking banaza I I went into for a library tea a few years ago. 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 8/30/2020 at 4:29 PM, Cameron H. said:

Both Daario and Theresa Palmer make a huge deal about sharing the same birthday, but statistically speaking, beyond a slight "Huh, that's kind of cool" moment, it's not really all that impressive. Every person on Earth has a 1 in 365 (0.3%) chance of sharing a birthday with any random person they meet -- which isn't nothing. Furthermore, according to the "Birthday Paradox," if you take a room full of people, say 50 people enjoying an evening of sensual aerial ballet, the odds that two (or more) people share a birthday actually increases! I'll spare everyone the "math" of it all (although if you're interested, you can find it here, here, and here), but if we go by my estimate of about 50 people at the ballet, there is a whopping 97% chance that two people in that room were born on the same day! (At which point, it would actually be more impressive if two people in that crowd *didn't* share a birthday.)

It portends nothing. There's nothing magical, mystical or even all that unusual about it. At best, it's trivial ephemera you might share at a dinner party when all other topics have all been totally exhausted.

Shut your dumb logical face!  My sharing a birthdate with Sarah Paulson MEANS SOMETHING!!

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

On 9/1/2020 at 12:08 AM, muttnik said:

I hated this movie, but I did wonder about Dylan's downstairs neighbor. Between the Olympic rings, glass partition smashing, and all manner of ranting and raving, that must have been rough stuff.

As someone who shares walls with noisy neighbors whom I hate, I feel this in my heart.

[Doctor Suessicide 42]

I was very disappointed their birthday was some random day in April instead of February 22nd.

[E.Lerner 111]

29 minutes ago, Doctor Suessicide said:

I was very disappointed their birthday was some random day in April instead of February 22nd.

Yes, but then their sign wouldn't be Aries.

[LiterallyTheJasonOfMyGroup 8]

On 8/30/2020 at 12:58 AM, Cameron H. said:

I would have to relisten to confirm, but I think she was saying that the most recent episode at the time of recording was Ep 222 (Unforgettable) not that 2:22 was the 222 ep. 

I was at the show and checked my phone/podcast feed immediately afterwards and sure enough, the episode that had dropped the night before was episode 222.

[LiterallyTheJasonOfMyGroup 8]

Hope it's not too late to make corrections and omissions (when does Paul record the minisodes, anyway?). But my wife and I were at the show and in the row behind the lady with the bike question. We were oh so close to being able to offer our observations:

Maybe it was too close to the ending of Game of Thrones, what with Daario 2 front and center on the screen, but we definitely felt the movie was setting up a long lost twins separated at birth incest twist ending.

It doesn't help that the movie is so all over the place that the initial surface reading could be anything: fate, reincarnation, time travel, coincidental patterns, etc. But the flashback to the newspaper talked about 3 dead at the train station, not 4 or 5 (if we're to include any unborn fetus(es) in the death count). We felt this could easily be interpreted that the very pregnant victim from the past had 2 babies that were viable outside the womb and possibly sent off to different adoptive families, only to be reunited at a later date. Evidence being the same birth date which happened to be the date of the murder, also the scientific studies that have shown that family members who have not grown up together seem to be more physically and emotionally attracted or attached to each other. It's a biological/evolutionary thing. I promise I'm not into incest! Anyway, this theory seemed very plausible at the time!

[Scary_Mirage 32]

On 8/29/2020 at 1:00 PM, Greg T said:

Another good one is a racing documentary called "1" that looks back to the most dangerous era in grand prix racing and the efforts made to improve the almost nonexistent safety features of 1960s racing.

Oh man, I've seen "1"! Totally forgot about it because it's a documentary.