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sayruq · 3 days

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Hello , I hope you’re doing well 🫶🏻

Me and my family need your help to survive from genocide in gaza,here our goFundMe link just read our story and help us if you can or just share it, we appreciated everything you would do.

https://gofund.me/38cab03b

Hello, I'm Khader Abu Sha'ban, and I'm 20 years old, I have a twin brother his name is Ragheb, and we are from Gaza City, We started the second year of our degree (designing and programming mobile applications). We live with a family of 9 members, they are all educated and have university degrees in the fields of engineering, programming, information security, administration, and law, We are the youngest in the family and we are the only ones who are still learning and we didn't end our degree yet.

Don't forget our beautiful cat - Kelwa – whom we consider a family member and we adopted him during the war when he was homeless in the street, however, he filled our lives with joy.

Before October 7th, Our life was full of goals, ambitions, and hope. and because we are identical twins I and my brother share everything in life and we have the same hobbies, actually we have the same life So we practice sports such as football, table tennis, and basketball and we are professionals in video games. we spend our time learning English next to our university education in the field where we found our passion which is Programming, and we have a small online store (Candles Store) to sell candles that we manually made. We have a goal to finish our university life as fast as we can to join the labor market of IT and open our startup company for techniques and applications with the great passion that we already have. this dream is growing day by day, but because of the war and the current circumstances, the dream started to fade, during the war educational institutions and Universities were destroyed in Gaza and the study was arrested. during the previous 8 months we have been unable to complete our education and estimates indicate that restoration of university status in Gaza will take time and may exceed years. The war came and destroyed our lives, our dreams, and our souls, My family did not decide to displacement to the south, despite all the suffering we had passed during this period and we decided to stay at home and not leave the beautiful memories, the idea of displacement to south and go to an unknown place that we don't have any relatives there was the most difficult for us to leave everything and not return back, so the decision was steadfast, non-displacement and patience on the suffering, but the war has been partially damaged our house because of targeting the house next to us, and damaged our beautiful memories and become ineffective to live, but thank God no one of my family has been hurt. The house went and we lost a lot of our beloveds (14 members of my cousins) and witnessed a lot of suffering in Gaza we were forced to internally-displacement east and west more than 5 times and it was very difficult to escape under the shelling at night and under The voices of aircraft and bombing and moving from a non-safe place to another non-safe place and don't forget the starvation that we still live in northern Gaza and dumping bombs, rockets and insecure until life became black for us. We won't forget the night of December 18th, when we lived the most terrifying night in our lives when we woke up at night to the voices of bombs and shells of nearby tanks and the glass and shrapnel on us, and I do not forget the voices of crying and the sounds of the SOS and we are unable to move even unable to breathe because of the hole of the smoke bombs that have thrown on us, I swear the horror of this night will accompany me to the last day My life. The horror of this night is repeated daily and there is no end and life has already black for us, after all this suffering we have reached a plan to rebuild the rest of our lives again elsewhere after we lost our house and members of my family as well as we lost the source income of my family this led us to seek help through this campaign, the raised funds will cover travel expenses for 9 people outside Gaza (where the travel coordination costing $ 5,000 per person) and $ 5,000 for addition costs for initial stability Abroad and $ 5000 initial amount to complete the study abroad for me and my brother. If the situation improves in Gaza we will use funds to restore our house and complete our education in Gaza or abroad, according to appropriate conditions.

These brothers have been raising funds since May and they've only received €678 so far. Please share and donate. Help save lives !!!!!!!

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #support palestine #palestine donation #palestinian donations

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 months

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Conspiratorialism and the epistemological crisis

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me next weekend (Mar 30/31) in ANAHEIM at WONDERCON, then in Boston with Randall "XKCD" Munroe! (Apr 11), then Providence (Apr 12), and beyond!

Last year, Ed Pierson was supposed to fly from Seattle to New Jersey on Alaska Airlines. He boarded his flight, but then he had an urgent discussion with the flight attendant, explaining that as a former senior Boeing engineer, he'd specifically requested that flight because the aircraft wasn't a 737 Max:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/boeing-737-max-passenger-boycott/index.html

But for operational reasons, Alaska had switched out the equipment on the flight and there he was on a 737 Max, about to travel cross-continent, and he didn't feel safe doing so. He demanded to be let off the flight. His bags were offloaded and he walked back up the jetbridge after telling the spooked flight attendant, "I can’t go into detail right now, but I wasn’t planning on flying the Max, and I want to get off the plane."

Boeing, of course, is a flying disaster that was years in the making. Its planes have been falling out of the sky since 2019. Floods of whistleblowers have come forward to say its aircraft are unsafe. Pierson's not the only Boeing employee to state – both on and off the record – that he wouldn't fly on a specific model of Boeing aircraft, or, in some cases any recent Boeing aircraft:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/22/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever/#will-eventually-stop

And yet, for years, Boeing's regulators have allowed the company to keep turning out planes that keep turning out lemons. This is a pretty frightening situation, to say the least. I'm not an aerospace engineer, I'm not an aircraft safety inspector, but every time I book a flight, I have to make a decision about whether to trust Boeing's assurances that I can safely board one of its planes without dying.

In an ideal world, I wouldn't even have to think about this. I'd be able to trust that publicly accountable regulators were on the job, making sure that airplanes were airworthy. "Caveat emptor" is no way to run a civilian aviation system.

But even though I don't have the specialized expertise needed to assess the airworthiness of Boeing planes, I do have the much more general expertise needed to assess the trustworthiness of Boeing's regulator. The FAA has spent years deferring to Boeing, allowing it to self-certify that its aircraft were safe. Even when these assurances led to the death of hundreds of people, the FAA continued to allow Boeing to mark its own homework:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8oCilY4szc

What's more, the FAA boss who presided over those hundreds of deaths was an ex-Boeing lobbyist, whom Trump subsequently appointed to run Boeing's oversight. He's not the only ex-insider who ended up a regulator, and there's plenty of ex-regulators now on Boeing's payroll:

https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/boeing-debacle-shows-need-to-investigate-trump-era-corruption/

You don't have to be an aviation expert to understand that companies have conflicts of interest when it comes to certifying their own products. "Market forces" aren't going to keep Boeing from shipping defective products, because the company's top brass are more worried about cashing out with this quarter's massive stock buybacks than they are about their successors' ability to manage the PR storm or Congressional hearings after their greed kills hundreds and hundreds of people.

You also don't have to be an aviation expert to understand that these conflicts persist even when a Boeing insider leaves the company to work for its regulators, or vice-versa. A regulator who anticipates a giant signing bonus from Boeing after their term in office, or a an ex-Boeing exec who holds millions in Boeing stock has an irreconcilable conflict of interest that will make it very hard – perhaps impossible – for them to hold the company to account when it trades safety for profit.

It's not just Boeing customers who feel justifiably anxious about trusting a system with such obvious conflicts of interest: Boeing's own executives, lobbyists and lawyers also refuse to participate in similarly flawed systems of oversight and conflict resolution. If Boeing was sued by its shareholders and the judge was also a pissed off Boeing shareholder, they would demand a recusal. If Boeing was looking for outside counsel to represent it in a liability suit brought by the family of one of its murder victims, they wouldn't hire the firm that was suing them – not even if that firm promised to be fair. If a Boeing executive's spouse sued for divorce, that exec wouldn't use the same lawyer as their soon-to-be-ex.

Sure, it takes specialized knowledge and training to be a lawyer, a judge, or an aircraft safety inspector. But anyone can look at the system those experts work in and spot its glaring defects. In other words, while acquiring expertise is hard, it's much easier to spot weaknesses in the process by which that expertise affects the world around us.

And therein lies the problem: aviation isn't the only technically complex, potentially lethal, and utterly, obviously untrustworthy system we all have to navigate. How about the building safety codes that governed the structure you're in right now? Plenty of people have blithely assumed that structural engineers carefully designed those standards, and that these standards were diligently upheld, only to discover in tragic, ghastly ways that this was wrong:

https://www.bbc.com/news/64568826

There are dozens – hundreds! – of life-or-death, highly technical questions you have to resolve every day just to survive. Should you trust the antilock braking firmware in your car? How about the food hygiene rules in the factories that produced the food in your shopping cart? Or the kitchen that made the pizza that was just delivered? Is your kid's school teaching them well, or will they grow up to be ignoramuses and thus economic roadkill?

Hell, even if I never get into another Boeing aircraft, I live in the approach path for Burbank airport, where Southwest lands 50+ Boeing flights every day. How can I be sure that the next Boeing 737 Max that falls out of the sky won't land on my roof?

This is the epistemological crisis we're living through today. Epistemology is the process by which we know things. The whole point of a transparent, democratically accountable process for expert technical deliberation is to resolve the epistemological challenge of making good choices about all of these life-or-death questions. Even the smartest person among us can't learn to evaluate all those questions, but we can all look at the process by which these questions are answered and draw conclusions about its soundness.

Is the process public? Are the people in charge of it forthright? Do they have conflicts of interest, and, if so, do they sit out any decision that gives even the appearance of impropriety? If new evidence comes to light – like, say, a horrific disaster – is there a way to re-open the process and change the rules?

The actual technical details might be a black box for us, opaque and indecipherable. But the box itself can be easily observed: is it made of sturdy material? Does it have sharp corners and clean lines? Or is it flimsy, irregular and torn? We don't have to know anything about the box's contents to conclude that we don't trust the box.

For example: we may not be experts in chemical engineering or water safety, but we can tell when a regulator is on the ball on these issues. Back in 2019, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection sought comment on its water safety regs. Dow Chemical – the largest corporation in the state's largest industry – filed comments arguing that WV should have lower standards for chemical contamination in its drinking water.

Now, I'm perfectly prepared to believe that there are safe levels of chemical runoff in the water supply. There's a lot of water in the water supply, after all, and "the dose makes the poison." What's more, I use the products whose manufacture results in that chemical waste. I want them to be made safely, but I do want them to be made – for one thing, the next time I have surgery, I want the anesthesiologist to start an IV with fresh, sterile plastic tubing.

And I'm not a chemist, let alone a water chemist. Neither am I a toxicologist. There are aspects of this debate I am totally unqualified to assess. Nevertheless, I think the WV process was a bad one, and here's why:

https://www.wvma.com/press/wvma-news/4244-wvma-statement-on-human-health-criteria-development

That's Dow's comment to the regulator (as proffered by its mouthpiece, the WV Manufacturers' Association, which it dominates). In that comment, Dow argues that West Virginians safely can absorb more poison than other Americans, because the people of West Virginia are fatter than other Americans, and so they have more tissue and thus a better ratio of poison to person than the typical American. But they don't stop there! They also say that West Virginians don't drink as much water as their out-of-state cousins, preferring to drink beer instead, so even if their water is more toxic, they'll be drinking less of it:

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/03/14/the-real-elitists-looking-down-on-trump-voters/

Even without any expertise in toxicology or water chemistry, I can tell that these are bullshit answers. The fact that the WV regulator accepted these comments tells me that they're not a good regulator. I was in WV last year to give a talk, and I didn't drink the tap water.

It's totally reasonable for non-experts to reject the conclusions of experts when the process by which those experts resolve their disagreements is obviously corrupt and irredeemably flawed. But some refusals carry higher costs – both for the refuseniks and the people around them – than my switching to bottled water when I was in Charleston.

Take vaccine denial (or "hesitancy"). Many people greeted the advent of an extremely rapid, high-tech covid vaccine with dread and mistrust. They argued that the pharma industry was dominated by corrupt, greedy corporations that routinely put their profits ahead of the public's safety, and that regulators, in Big Pharma's pocket, let them get away with mass murder.

The thing is, all that is true. Look, I've had five covid vaccinations, but not because I trust the pharma industry. I've had direct experience of how pharma sacrifices safety on greed's altar, and narrowly avoided harm myself. I have had chronic pain problems my whole life, and they've gotten worse every year. When my daughter was on the way, I decided this was going to get in the way of my ability to parent – I wanted to be able to carry her for long stretches! – and so I started aggressively pursuing the pain treatments I'd given up on many years before.

My journey led me to many specialists – physios, dieticians, rehab specialists, neurologists, surgeons – and I tried many, many therapies. Luckily, my wife had private insurance – we were in the UK then – and I could go to just about any doctor that seemed promising. That's how I found myself in the offices of a Harley Street quack, a prominent pain specialist, who had great news for me: it turned out that opioids were way safer than had previously been thought, and I could just take opioids every day and night for the rest of my life without any serious risk of addiction. It would be fine.

This sounded wrong to me. I'd lost several friends to overdoses, and watched others spiral into miserable lives as they struggled with addiction. So I "did my own research." Despite not having a background in chemistry, biology, neurology or pharmacology, I struggled through papers and read commentary and came to the conclusion that opioids weren't safe at all. Rather, corrupt billionaire pharma owners like the Sackler family had colluded with their regulators to risk the lives of millions by pushing falsified research that was finding publication in some of the most respected, peer-reviewed journals in the world.

I became an opioid denier, in other words.

I decided, based on my own research, that the experts were wrong, and that they were wrong for corrupt reasons, and that I couldn't trust their advice.

When anti-vaxxers decried the covid vaccines, they said things that were – in form at least – indistinguishable from the things I'd been saying 15 years earlier, when I decided to ignore my doctor's advice and throw away my medication on the grounds that it would probably harm me.

For me, faith in vaccines didn't come from a broad, newfound trust in the pharmaceutical system: rather, I judged that there was so much scrutiny on these new medications that it would overwhelm even pharma's ability to corruptly continue to sell a medication that they secretly knew to be harmful, as they'd done so many times before:

https://www.npr.org/2007/11/10/5470430/timeline-the-rise-and-fall-of-vioxx

But many of my peers had a different take on anti-vaxxers: for these friends and colleagues, anti-vaxxers were being foolish. Surprisingly, these people I'd long felt myself in broad agreement with began to defend the pharmaceutical system and its regulators. Once they saw that anti-vaxx was a wedge issue championed by right-wing culture war shitheads, they became not just pro-vaccine, but pro-pharma.

There's a name for this phenomenon: "schismogenesis." That's when you decide how you feel about an issue based on who supports it. Think of self-described "progressives" who became cheerleaders for the America's cruel, ruthless and lawless "intelligence community" when it seemed that US spooks were bent on Trump's ouster:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

The fact that the FBI didn't like Trump didn't make them allies of progressive causes. This was and is the same entity that (among other things) tried to blackmail Martin Luther King, Jr into killing himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_suicide_letter

But schismogenesis isn't merely a reactionary way of flip-flopping on issues based on reflexive enmity. It's actually a reasonable epistemological tactic: in a world where there are more issues you need to be clear on than you can possibly inform yourself about, you need some shortcuts. One shortcut – a shortcut that's failing – is to say, "Well, I'll provisionally believe whatever the expert system tells me is true." Another shortcut is, "I will provisionally disbelieve in whatever the people I know to act in bad faith are saying is true." That is, "schismogenesis."

Schismogenesis isn't a great tactic. It would be far better if we had a set of institutions we could all largely trust – if the black boxes where expert debate took place were sturdy, rectilinear and sharp-cornered.

But they're not. They're just not. Our regulatory process sucks. Corporate concentration makes it trivial for cartels to capture their regulators and steer them to conclusions that benefit corporate shareholders even if that means visiting enormous harm – even mass death – on the public:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

No one hates Big Tech more than I do, but many of my co-belligerents in the war on Big Tech believe that the rise of conspiratorialism can be laid at tech platforms' feet. They say that Big Tech boasts of how good they are at algorithmically manipulating our beliefs, and attribute Qanons, flat earthers, and other outlandish conspiratorial cults to the misuse off those algorithms.

"We built a Big Data mind-control ray" is one of those extraordinary claims that requires extraordinary evidence. But the evidence for Big Tech's persuasion machines is very poor: mostly, it consists of tech platforms' own boasts to potential investors and customers for their advertising products. "We can change peoples' minds" has long been the boast of advertising companies, and it's clear that they can change the minds of customers for advertising.

Think of department store mogul John Wanamaker, who famously said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." Today – thanks to commercial surveillance – we know that the true proportion of wasted advertising spending is more like 99.9%. Advertising agencies may be really good at convincing John Wanamaker and his successors, through prolonged, personal, intense selling – but that doesn't mean they're able to sell so efficiently to the rest of us with mass banner ads or spambots:

http://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

In other words, the fact that Facebook claims it is really good at persuasion doesn't mean that it's true. Just like the AI companies who claim their chatbots can do your job: they are much better at convincing your boss (who is insatiably horny for firing workers) than they are at actually producing an algorithm that can replace you. What's more, their profitability relies far more on convincing a rich, credulous business executive that their product works than it does on actually delivering a working product.

Now, I do think that Facebook and other tech giants play an important role in the rise of conspiratorial beliefs. However, that role isn't using algorithms to persuade people to mistrust our institutions. Rather Big Tech – like other corporate cartels – has so corrupted our regulatory system that they make trusting our institutions irrational.

Think of federal privacy law. The last time the US got a new federal consumer privacy law was in 1988, when Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act, a law that prohibits video store clerks from leaking your VHS rental history:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/why-vppa-protects-youtube-and-viacom-employees

It's been a minute. There are very obvious privacy concerns haunting Americans, related to those tech giants, and yet the closest Congress can come to doing something about it is to attempt the forced sale of the sole Chinese tech giant with a US footprint to a US company, to ensure that its rampant privacy violations are conducted by our fellow Americans, and to force Chinese spies to buy their surveillance data on millions of Americans in the lawless, reckless swamp of US data-brokerages:

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238435508/tiktok-ban-bill-congress-china

For millions of Americans – especially younger Americans – the failure to pass (or even introduce!) a federal privacy law proves that our institutions can't be trusted. They're right:

https://www.tiktok.com/@pearlmania500/video/7345961470548512043

Occam's Razor cautions us to seek the simplest explanation for the phenomena we see in the world around us. There's a much simpler explanation for why people believe conspiracy theories they encounter online than the idea that the one time Facebook is telling the truth is when they're boasting about how well their products work – especially given the undeniable fact that everyone else who ever claimed to have perfected mind-control was a fantasist or a liar, from Rasputin to MK-ULTRA to pick-up artists.

Maybe people believe in conspiracy theories because they have hundreds of life-or-death decisions to make every day, and the institutions that are supposed to make that possible keep proving that they can't be trusted. Nevertheless, those decisions have to be made, and so something needs to fill the epistemological void left by the manifest unsoundness of the black box where the decisions get made.

For many people – millions – the thing that fills the black box is conspiracy fantasies. It's true that tech makes finding these conspiracy fantasies easier than ever, and it's true that tech makes forming communities of conspiratorial belief easier, too. But the vulnerability to conspiratorialism that algorithms identify and target people based on isn't a function of Big Data. It's a function of corruption – of life in a world in which real conspiracies (to steal your wages, or let rich people escape the consequences of their crimes, or sacrifice your safety to protect large firms' profits) are everywhere.

Progressives – which is to say, the coalition of liberals and leftists, in which liberals are the senior partners and spokespeople who control the Overton Window – used to identify and decry these conspiracies. But as right wing "populists" declared their opposition to these conspiracies – when Trump damned free trade and the mainstream media as tools of the ruling class – progressives leaned into schismogenesis and declared their vocal support for these old enemies of progress.

This is the crux of Naomi Klein's brilliant 2023 book Doppelganger: that as the progressive coalition started supporting these unworthy and broken institutions, the right spun up "mirror world" versions of their critique, distorted versions that focus on scapegoating vulnerable groups rather than fighting unworthy institutions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

This is a long tradition in politics: hundreds of years ago, some leftists branded antisemitism "the socialism of fools." Rather than condemning the system's embrace of the finance sector and its wealthy beneficiaries, anti-semites blame a disfavored group of people – people who are just as likely as anyone to suffer under the system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_is_the_socialism_of_fools

It's an ugly, shallow, cartoon version of socialism's measured and comprehensive analysis of how the class system actually works and why it's so harmful to everyone except a tiny elite. Literally cartoonish: the shadow-world version of socialism co-opts and simplifies the iconography of class struggle. And schismogenesis – "if the right likes this, I don't" – sends "progressive" scolds after anyone who dares to criticize finance as the crux of our world's problems as popularizing "antisemetic dog-whistles."

This is the problem with "horseshoe theory" – the idea that the far right and the far left bend all the way around to meet each other:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/26/horsehoe-crab/#substantive-disagreement

When the right criticizes pharma companies, they tell us to "do our own research" (e.g. ignore the systemic problems of people being forced to work under dangerous conditions during a pandemic while individually assessing conflicting claims about vaccine safety, ideally landing on buying "supplements" from a grifter). When the left criticizes pharma, it's to argue for universal access to medicine and vigorous public oversight of pharma companies. These aren't the same thing:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/25/the-other-shoe-drops/#quid-pro-quo

Long before opportunistic right wing politicians realized they could get mileage out of pointing at the terrifying epistemological crisis of trying to make good choices in an age of institutions that can't be trusted, the left was sounding the alarm. Conspiratorialism – the fracturing of our shared reality – is a serious problem, weakening our ability to respond effectively to endless disasters of the polycrisis.

But by blaming the problem of conspiratorialism on the credulity of believers (rather than the deserved disrepute of the institutions they have lost faith in) we adopt the logic of the right: "conspiratorialism is a problem of individuals believing wrong things," rather than "a system that makes wrong explanations credible – and a schismogenic insistence that these institutions are sound and trustworthy."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/25/black-boxes/#when-you-know-you-know

Image: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/nrcgov/15993154185/

meanwell-packaging.co.uk https://www.flickr.com/photos/195311218@N08/52159853896

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic #conspiratorialism #epistemology #epistemological crisis #mind control rays #opioid denial #vaccine denial #regulatory capture #boeing #corruption #inequality #monopoly #apple #dma #eu

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wheelsgoroundincircles · 29 days

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Cadillac was founded in 1902 by Henry Leland, who named the company after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who happens to be the founder of Detroit. Just 6 short years later Cadillac brought the idea of interchangeable parts to the automotive industry and laid the ground work for modern mass production of automobiles. As a result, Cadillac became the first American car to win the prestigious Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club of England. After earning such high praise Cadillac adopted the slogan "Standard of the World."

In 1910, Cadillac became the first company to offer a passenger car with a fully enclosed cabin, a major change from the vehicles of the time. Two years after that, in 1912, the company released the Model Thirty, the car with no crank, which was the first production car to feature an electronic self-starter, ignition, and lighting. By dropping the crank starter, Cadillac opened the door to women drivers, and was able to bring the prestigious Dewar trophy back to Detroit, making Cadillac the only car manufacturer to claim the award twice. Nearly three years later, Cadillac brought the world the V-type, water-cooled, eight cylinder (V8) engine, which would become the signature of the Cadillac brand.

The Roaring 20's was not only a big decade for the country but was also important for Cadillac. In 1926, Cadillac branched out and offered customers more than 500 color combinations to choose from. As the famous Henry Ford saying goes, you can have any color you want, as long as it's black. Cadillac changed this mentality. That same year, the company brought in designer Harley Earl to design the 1927 LaSalle convertible coupe, which made the car the first to be designed from a designer's perspective rather than an engineering one. What Earl created was elegant, with flowing lines, chrome-plate fixtures, and an overarching design philosophy, that made the Cadillac brand known for beauty and luxury.

In the middle of the 1930's a midst The Great Depression, while most companies and families were struggling Cadillac created the first V-type 16-cylinder engine for use in a passenger car. This engine would go on to be one of the most iconic engines in Cadillac history. Shortly thereafter, Cadillac released a V12 version to give buyers something between the already popular V8 and new V16 engines.

Cadillac went quiet in the 1941's when they suspended automobile production to help produce planes for the war. After the war ended Cadillac adapted some of the aircraft technology and created the first ever tailfin on a vehicle. This feature is now found on almost every car and was one of the biggest reasons that Cadillac was given the first ever Car of the Year award in 1949.

The tailfin took off rather quickly and by the mid to late 1950's it was being featured heavily in the design of nearly every vehicle. Also in the 50's Cadillac began developing power steering, which helped the automaker take third, tenth, and eleventh places at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After Cadillac's stunning "victories" power steering quickly became the new standard of the industry.

Small but meaningful innovations filled the 1960's for Cadillac. In 1963, the company made front seatbelts standard in their vehicles, which lead to the eventual passing of a federal law requiring front seatbelts in all vehicles just one year later. Then, in 1964, Cadillac brought to market automatically controlled headlamps and redefines luxury with Comfort Control, the industry's first thermostatically controlled heating, venting, and air-conditioning system. Over the next few years, Cadillac introduced variable-ratio power steering, electric seat warmers, and stereo radio.

While the 1960's were fairly quiet, with only some smaller, luxury items being introduced, Cadillac started out 1970 with a major bang. Cadillac opened the decade by unveiling the 400 horsepower, 8.2-liter engine Eldorado. With its completely redesigned axle this model boasted the highest torque capacity of any passenger car available at the time. Closing out the decade, Cadillac brought to market the 1978 Seville which used onboard microprocessors in its digital display. This started the era of the computerized automobile.

Throughout the 1980's Cadillac laid low, working on some new technologies that would come to market in the early parts of the 1990's. The first feature to debut was an electronic traction control system on front-wheel drive vehicles. Cadillac began offering this as a standard feature on the 1990 Cadillac Allante. This same year Cadillac would go on to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Two years later, in 1992, the company developed a feature that allowed the engine to run for up to 50 miles without coolant, and a unique induction system for near-perfect fuel distribution. The Seville Touring Sedan of that year would become known as the "Cadillac of the Year" thanks to features such as an all electronically controlled Powertrain, traction control, anti-lock brakes and speed-sensitive suspension. Closing out the decade, Cadillac introduced the, now iconic, Escalade SUV.

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS AS 'THE STANDARD OF THE WORLD'

Coming up on the 100th anniversary of the Cadillac brand, the company had to do something big or the decade, and they did not disappoint. Cadillac started off the 200's by introducing the F-22 stealth aircraft inspired Cien Concept, which ended up winning a few design awards. Later in the decade, in 2008, Cadillac expanded the Escalade SUV by making it the world's first full-size luxury hybrid SUV. In the same year, the company redeveloped the CTS Sedan. This redesign has been incredibly popular and even won the coveted 2008 Car of the Year award. A short year later, the performance edition CTS-V, becomes the fasted V8 production sedan in the world, establishing a record lap time of 7:59:32 on Germany's famed Nürburgring.

#cadillac #cadillac eldorado #cadillac fleetwood #cadillac deville #cadillac coupe de ville #Cadillac escalade #car #cars #Cadillac Escalade SUV

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tanksandbeyond · 5 months

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A TKB-799 Kliver turret.

The 'Kliver' (Cleaver) turret was a Russian turret created in the mid-1990s for the export market. At the time, the Russian economy was struggling after the Fall of the Soviet Union. As such, the Russian Ground Forces were not able to update their equipment, leaving Russian design bureaus with few customers domestically. In order to keep their bureaus busy, many companies turned to the export market, offering modern upgrades for countries operating Soviet / Russian vehicles. Among these design bureaus was the KBP Instrument Design Bureau, who had created some of the most iconic military equipment of the USSR, including the ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun, 9M113 anti-tank missile, and the GSh-23 used on numerous aircraft.

During this period, work began at KBP to create a turret featuring one of their new anti-tank guided missile designs, the 9M133 'Kornet'. It was completed and showcased publicly in 1996. The idea behind the Kliver was to offer an upgrade for existing chassis. For example, instead of a 14.5mm machine gun on a BTR-80, the Kliver could replace it with a 30mm 2A72 autocannon, 7.62mm PKT machine gun, and four 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles. The turret also featured thermal imaging and stabilization for the gunner, two key aspects of acquiring and staying on targets. KBP did just this, with the first vehicle fitted with the turret being a BTR-80 in 1996.

The BTR-80 fitted with the Kliver turret.

While the turret could be fitted to a number of vehicles due to its light weight of 1,500 kg and adjustable ring diameter, the Kliver was designed with the intent to mount it on the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle in mind. This could be done with no modifications to the hull, simply replacing the turret was enough. A BMP-1 with Kliver turret prototypes was showcased at the International Defence Exhibition, IDEX, in 1997 and 1999, with KBP's engineers rather boldly claiming the turret to be superior to existing Russian, American, and German designs, notably the M2/M3 Bradley and Marder 1. This wasn't terribly far off from the truth, since the 9M133 Kornet and 30mm 2A72 were very modern and capable weapons.

A BMP-1 fitted with the Kliver turret at IDEX 97 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

With all this being said, one might assume the turret was successful and would see use by other countries. Unfortunately for KBP, the Kliver turret, for all its features, did not see any orders. It also didn't fix issues with the hulls it was being mounted to. The BMP-1, for example, is notorious for being cramped and poorly armored. The Russian military never gave it a chance either due to the aforementioned economic issues.

#Tanks #Military #KBP Instrument Design Bureau #Kliver turret #TKB-799

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littlewestern · 1 month

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okokok this is really vague but i simply must know more about jenny and texaco

excellent character design

Of course! Thanks for your patience with this ask, I wanted to draw them special for it.

Jenny and Texaco are two more of the little planes that live in the Transportation Hall, the JN-4D Curtiss (nicknamed Jenny, though all models of this plane carry the nickname) and the Travel Air Model R Mystery Ship (nicknamed Texaco 13).

the Curtiss JN was the first mass-produced airplane, originally made to train pilots during WWI. After the war, the surplus planes made their way to the civilian market where they were used in everything from mail service to stunt shows. We talk about how the Zephyr service tried to make rail travel accessible to the average person, the Jennies functioned in a similar way, being abundant and simple to train in on account of their original built purpose. Jenny at the MSI was used for aerial stunts, $5 rides, and barnstorming displays. She was flown at the 1933 World's Fair and was then donated to the museum, so she was hanging around when Pioneer and 999 were too, although they wouldn't have interacted back then.

As a stunt plane and strictly commercial engine, Jenny is competitive, shrewd, and occasionally very blunt. She comes from a background and a time period where mincing your words was a waste of precious seconds and good airtime. While retirement has sanded down her more daredevil tendencies, she's not above challenging the other planes to handstand contests or merely just calling them out when she thinks they're acting cowardly. She likes the warplanes well enough, but thinks they're a bit dim for not simply settling their differences with tests of skill rather than might. In a perfect world, 727 would like to confer her powers of delegation to 40B for when she can't be everywhere at once, but given that no one listens to him, that responsibility usually falls to Jenny, whose commanding presence simply cannot be ignored.

In contrast Texaco (affectionately "Tex" to 2903) is a streamlined racing plane. One of only 5 ever built (in secrecy, hence the name of the class being Mystery Ship), the goal of the Travel Air company was to build a civilian plane that could match or surpass the speed of military aircraft and win the National Air Races. In this they succeeded wildly, Texaco broke more than 200 speed and distance records around the world during her time in service for the Texaco oil company.

As you might expect of a former racing plane, Texaco is energetic, relentlessly positive, and highly driven. A fellow student of the school of streamlined construction, she has a great deal of respect and admiration for Pioneer and loves challenging him to race with her, which he graciously bows out of every time. She does show up "racing" alongside him on the big exhibit screens, which they both find highly amusing. In contrast to Jenny's straightforwardness, Texaco sometimes lets her mouth run ahead of her and might take a few tries to get to the point if she doesn't lose track of it entirely. The other planes don't mind though, and in-fact love her for it (Jenny especially).

Glad to be able to talk about these two. They're great additions to the cast and a treat to draw. Thanks for the ask!

#asks #texaco 13 #jn-4d curtiss #the future is still silver and black #amber-is-gay

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usafphantom2 · 5 months

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China offered its Y-20 transport plane to Nigeria

The air transport plane was placed on the international market in November, when it was shown to the head of Nigeria's defense.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 01/13/2024 - 19:00 in Military

China is trying to sell its Y-20 Kunpeng transport plane to foreign buyers, with its manufacturer expanding production capacity in preparation, according to media reports.

The strategic military transport aircraft was placed on the international market in November, when the Y-20BE model was shown to Nigeria's Defense Minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar in Beijing, the military magazine Ordnance Industry Science Technology reported last week.

The heavy transport plane, nicknamed the 'chubby girl' (chubby girl) for its large fuselage, is comparable to the Soviet Ilyushin Il-76 and the American Boeing C-17.

According to the report, it will be an opportunity for China to “establish deeper strategic relations and cooperation with countries as soon as they have the Y-20”.

Although Nigeria currently depends on the C-130 Hercules as its main tactical air transport aircraft, military experts say the Y-20E would provide the country with genuine strategic air transport capabilities.

The aircraft manufacturer, XAIC, operates assembly lines for mass production, according to the Chinese state broadcaster.

Its manufacturer, the state-owned Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation (XAIC), has been operating assembly lines for mass production to increase efficiency and expand capacity, the state broadcaster CCTV reported in November.

Instead of mounting the aircraft on a fixed workstation, its parts are moved along a "pulse line" as the work steps are completed - similar to the way cars are produced. These assembly lines are used to build some of the most advanced aircraft in the world, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 and the Boeing 787.

More than 90 percent of the parts of the Y-20 are manufactured by a digitized system, according to the CCTV report, which showed images from the XAIC factory of robotic arms, remotely controlled maneuvers and laser-assisted high-precision assembly work.

The broadcaster's report said that the production capacity of the plant could meet the demand of both the Chinese air force and international customers.

"The production speed of the Y-20 is the fastest in the world in this type," he said.

The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has received almost 100 planes so far, half of them in the last two years.

The plane, which is 47 meters long and 50 meters wide, has become the flagship of the People's Liberation Army since it entered service in 2016. It can transport up to 66 tons.

XAIC has delivered almost 100 planes to the PLA Air Force so far - about half of them in the last two years. It also changed from Russian-made Soloviev D-30KP-2 engines to the most powerful Chinese-made Shenyang WS-20 turbofan engines.

Variants were also developed, the Y-20U tank plane and the Y-20AEW airborne alert and early control aircraft.

Tags: Military AviationChinaNAF - Nigerian Air Force/Nigerian Air ForceXian Y-20

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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aviaposter · 7 months

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Bombardier CRJ200 PSA Airlines operated for US Airways Express

Registration: N215PS Type: 200LR (CL-600-2B19) Engines: 2 × GE CF34-3B1 Serial Number: 7880 First flight: Nov 2003

PSA Airlines was an US Airways regional airline headquartered at Dayton International Airport in Dayton, Ohio United States. The airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of the US Airways Group and was paid by parent company US Airways to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on USAirways Express flights that were scheduled, marketed and sold by US Airways. The airline was named after Pacific Southwest Airlines (commonly known as just PSA). One of the predecessors of today’s American Airlines, to protect the trademark. PSA Airlines operates a fleet consisting of exclusively Bombardier Regional jet aircraft.

Poster for Aviators. aviaposter.com

#regionaljet #regionalaviation #BombardierAircraft #crj #crj200 #canadair #airliners #aircraft #paxex

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techninja · 2 months

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Exploring the Dynamics of the Synthetic Fuels Market: A Sustainable Energy Solution

The Synthetic Fuels Market is rapidly gaining traction as a viable alternative in the quest for sustainable energy sources. With the growing concerns over climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions, synthetic fuels offer a promising solution. These fuels, also known as e-fuels or renewable fuels, are produced through advanced processes that utilize renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, or hydroelectric power.

One of the primary drivers behind the surge in demand for synthetic fuels is the global shift towards greener energy solutions. Governments, industries, and consumers alike are increasingly recognizing the importance of reducing dependency on fossil fuels and embracing renewable alternatives. Synthetic fuels present a compelling option as they not only offer a cleaner energy source but also provide a pathway to decarbonizing sectors such as transportation, industrial manufacturing, and power generation.

The versatility of synthetic fuels is another factor contributing to their growing popularity. Unlike traditional fossil fuels, synthetic fuels can be easily integrated into existing infrastructure without the need for significant modifications. This means that vehicles, aircraft, and machinery powered by gasoline or diesel can seamlessly transition to synthetic fuels without compromising performance or efficiency. Additionally, synthetic fuels can be tailored to meet specific energy needs, offering a customizable solution for various applications.

Moreover, advancements in technology have significantly improved the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of synthetic fuel production. Innovative processes such as Power-to-Liquid (PtL) and Gas-to-Liquid (GtL) have made it possible to produce synthetic fuels on a commercial scale, driving down production costs and increasing accessibility. As a result, synthetic fuels are becoming increasingly competitive with conventional fossil fuels, further fueling their adoption across different sectors.

The transportation industry stands to benefit significantly from the widespread adoption of synthetic fuels. With concerns over air quality and emissions regulations becoming more stringent, many vehicle manufacturers are exploring alternative fuel options to meet regulatory requirements and consumer demand for greener transportation solutions. Synthetic fuels offer an attractive alternative, providing a bridge between conventional combustion engines and future zero-emission technologies such as electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells.

In addition to transportation, synthetic fuels find applications in other sectors such as power generation and industrial manufacturing. The ability to produce clean, reliable energy from renewable sources makes synthetic fuels an appealing choice for companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and meet sustainability targets. Furthermore, synthetic fuels offer energy security benefits by reducing reliance on imported oil and mitigating the geopolitical risks associated with fossil fuel dependence.

Looking ahead, the Synthetic Fuels Market is poised for significant growth as the world transitions towards a low-carbon economy. With ongoing advancements in technology, coupled with increasing environmental awareness and regulatory pressures, the demand for synthetic fuels is expected to soar in the coming years. As governments and industries continue to invest in renewable energy solutions, synthetic fuels are well-positioned to play a crucial role in shaping the future of energy production and consumption.

#energy #sustainability #renewable fuels #e-fuels #carbon emissions #alternative energy #transportation #industrial applications

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panache-academy · 3 months

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Navigating the Skies: Choosing the Best Aviation Training Academy with 100% Job Guarantee

Embarking on a career in aviation is an exhilarating journey filled with opportunities for growth and exploration. However, with numerous aviation training academies available, selecting the right one can be daunting. Aspiring aviation professionals often seek institutions that not only provide top-notch education but also offer a guarantee of job placement upon completion of the course. So, which academy is the best choice for aviation training courses with a 100% job guarantee? Let's explore some key factors to consider when making this important decision.

Reputation and Accreditation:

When evaluating aviation training academies, reputation and accreditation are paramount. Look for academies that are recognized and accredited by reputable aviation authorities or regulatory bodies. Accreditation ensures that the academy meets stringent standards of quality and professionalism, instilling confidence in the education and training provided.

Industry Partnerships:

Academies with strong industry partnerships have a distinct advantage when it comes to job placement opportunities. These partnerships enable students to gain valuable hands-on experience through internships, apprenticeships, or placement programs with leading aviation companies. Additionally, industry collaborations often lead to direct job offers upon graduation, providing a seamless transition into the workforce.

Comprehensive Curriculum:

The best aviation training academies offer comprehensive and up-to-date curricula that cover all aspects of aviation theory, practical training, and industry-relevant skills. Look for courses that align with your career goals, whether it's pilot training, aircraft maintenance, cabin crew, airport operations, or aviation management. A well-rounded curriculum ensures that you are equipped with the knowledge and skills required to excel in your chosen field.

Experienced Faculty:

An experienced and knowledgeable faculty is essential for delivering high-quality education and training. Look for academies with faculty members who have extensive experience in the aviation industry, whether as pilots, engineers, air traffic controllers, or aviation managers. Faculty expertise enriches the learning experience, providing valuable insights, mentorship, and guidance to students as they navigate their aviation careers.

Job Placement Guarantee:

While no academy can guarantee employment, some institutions offer job placement assistance or guarantee a certain level of job placement success for their graduates. When considering aviation training academies, inquire about their job placement services, success rates, and alumni outcomes. A transparent and proactive approach to job placement indicates the academy's commitment to student success and employability.

Student Support Services:

Look for academies that prioritize student support services, including career counseling, resume building, interview preparation, and networking opportunities. These services empower students to navigate the job market effectively and secure employment upon graduation. Additionally, ongoing support from faculty and staff fosters a supportive learning environment conducive to student success.

Industry Recognition and Alumni Network:

Consider academies that are well-recognized within the aviation industry and have a strong alumni network. Industry recognition enhances the credibility of the academy and increases the likelihood of employers recognizing and valuing the education and training received. A robust alumni network provides valuable connections, mentorship, and career opportunities for current students and graduates alike.

Based on these criteria, one academy that stands out for its excellence in aviation training courses with a 100% job guarantee is Panache Academy. Let's take a closer look at what sets Panache Academy apart:

Reputation:

Panache Academy has built a stellar reputation as a leading provider of aviation training courses, with accreditation from renowned aviation authorities and regulatory bodies.

Industry Partnerships: Panache Academy has established strong partnerships with leading aviation companies, airlines, and industry stakeholders, providing students with valuable opportunities for internships, placements, and direct job offers upon graduation.

Comprehensive Curriculum: Panache Academy offers a comprehensive range of courses tailored to various career paths in aviation, including pilot training, aircraft maintenance, cabin crew, airport operations, and aviation management. The academy's curriculum is regularly updated to reflect industry trends and requirements.

Experienced Faculty: The faculty at Panache Academy comprises seasoned professionals with extensive experience in the aviation industry. They bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and real-world insights to the classroom, enriching the learning experience for students.

Job Placement Guarantee: Panache Academy is committed to supporting its students' career aspirations and offers a 100% job placement guarantee for eligible graduates. The academy's dedicated placement cell provides personalized assistance and support to students throughout their job search journey.

Student Support Services: Panache Academy offers a range of student support services, including career counseling, resume building, interview preparation, and networking opportunities. The academy's faculty and staff are dedicated to providing ongoing guidance and mentorship to help students succeed in their aviation careers.

Industry Recognition and Alumni Network: Panache Academy is widely recognized within the aviation industry and has a strong alumni network of successful aviation professionals. The academy's alumni network provides valuable connections, mentorship, and career opportunities for current students and graduates.

In conclusion, when choosing an aviation training academy with a 100% job guarantee, it's essential to consider factors such as reputation, accreditation, industry partnerships, curriculum, faculty expertise, job placement services, student support, industry recognition, and alumni network. Panache Academy excels in all these areas, making it an ideal choice for aspiring aviation professionals seeking quality education, training, and job placement opportunities. With Panache Academy, you can embark on your aviation career journey with confidence and assurance of a bright future in the dynamic and rewarding aviation industry.

#aviation course #aviation #air hostess #flight crew

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c-mccormick-arts246-03 · 7 months

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Project #5 - R+D: Written Synthesis & Mood Board

Continental Air commenced its operations in July of 1934 under the South Western Division of Varney Speedlines. In 1937, the airline changed its name from "Varney Air Transport" to "Continental" to reflect the vision of its CEO at the time, Robert F. Six, who envisioned the airline expanding throughout the United States. The company was headquartered in El Paso, Texas, and prioritized airmail services to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Later, Varney Speedlines extended its routes to Nevada, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Over time, the company also introduced transportation services for passengers, using a range of aircraft models. Some of the notable airliners included the Lockheed Model 9 Orion (single-engine, six passengers), the Lockheed Electra Junior (twin engine, six passengers), the Lockheed Lodestar (radial engine, eighteen passengers), and the Boeing 707 Aircraft (189 passengers). Over the course of more than 70 years of operation, the airline has merged with multiple commercial airline services, including Pioneer Airlines in 1955, Texas International Airlines in 1982, and assets of Frontier and New York Air in 1986. In 1987, Continental became the largest airline company in the United States. However, disagreements between the airline and workers of Texas Air Corporation, as well as acquired debt and multiple bankruptcies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, caused the company to struggle financially, leading to a decrease in flight routes, reduced seating capacity, and continuous employee layoffs. Continental eventually merged with United Airlines in 2012.

When establishing a marketing objective for Continental Airlines, one must consider the company's past bankruptcy. In the 1990s, before the company merged with United Airlines, a marketing campaign was launched to improve its reputation. The marketing objectives included four main areas: market, financial, product, and people. To establish a stronger presence in major cities like Newark, Houston, and Cleveland, the company aimed to target mainly businesspeople. To tackle financial issues, Continental eliminated unprofitable flights and aimed to increase the availability of desired flights. Additionally, the company remodeled the customer experience to be more welcoming and pleasant, while prioritizing accurate departure and arrival times. The employment sector received the most significant overhaul, with layoffs occurring to improve the distribution of finances across the company. These measures were necessary due to the company's history of mergers, bankruptcy, and financial debt. Continental Airlines had several goals and objectives, all aimed at providing excellent passenger and transportation services and expanding the airline's reach throughout the United States. One of these goals was to train employees for long-term careers, with education on understanding the market, increasing revenue, improving the product - including efficient transportation and customer service - and transforming the corporate culture. Overall, Continental strived to improve its services and grow its business while prioritizing the development of its employees.

The main competitors of Continental are other airlines across the United States, such as Air Canada, American, Lufthansa, Emirates, and Delta. Although, less popular modes of transportation including Greyhound (bus transportation), Amtrak (train transportation), and cars also pose competition. Due to the emergence of innovative technologies during the 2020 pandemic, resources like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have made it easier for employees to connect with employers online, causing a decrease in business travels.

In the past, the airline's advertisements targeted businessmen who frequently traveled within the United States and internationally. To cater to this affluent business clientele, Continental provided luxury amenities such as an on-plane pub named the "Sky Pub" and lounge on flights to Chicago, Houston, and Denver. Additionally, Continental offered a variety of snacks and meal options, as well as drinks, which were no longer provided by their competitors. Initially, Continental aimed to make air travel more affordable for the average American middle-class family and also targeted these groups with flights to popular family-centered destinations, such as California or Orlando.

When reviewing the assumptions made about Continental Airlines and its services, some people may perceive the company as providing basic or cheap services. This is in contrast to the company's previous image of being patriotic and pro-American from the 1940s and into the late 60s. The name "Continental" can also be associated with popular hotel chains' continental breakfast, which is also perceived as basic and cheap. Continental Airlines also faces significant difficulties in balancing the cost of flights with rates and providing good services, which can compromise the company's image and make it appear unfocused, unserious, and unprepared. This can drive away the targeted audience and clientele of the company.

Continental Airlines offers affordable airfare to destinations worldwide, prioritizing exceptional service at every point of contact with guests. Continental Airlines is committed to delivering on its promise of providing an exceptional flying experience. To ensure this, the airline offers free meals with multiple options, prepared by professional chefs who tailor the menu to the flight destination, taking into account the local culture. With over 2400 daily departures to five different continents, Continental Airlines provides passengers with headphones, pillows, wool blankets, and amenity kits before take-off, depending on the type of flight. Additionally, Continental Airlines is the first commercial airline to offer satellite-based Wi-Fi on international flights, enabling streaming TV on the seat-back screens. Every seat also comes with charging ports for enhanced convenience.

Continental Airlines went through several rebranding phases throughout its operation. In the 1930s and 1940s, the company positioned itself after the Great Depression and during America's involvement in World War II as a patriotic business that was proud of the American spirit. Their color scheme was mainly red, white, and blue, with illustrations of their planes and American iconography, and a logo featuring an American bald eagle. In the 1960s-1970s, the company shifted away from bold patriotism and into a more serious, muted branding that aimed to be more corporate and sophisticated to attract a business clientele. The eagle logo was replaced with the jet stream, reflecting the company's goal of transporting people to international destinations quickly and efficiently. The color scheme was primarily gold, black, white, and gray, but eventually incorporated other color palettes such as blue, green, and red to appeal more to the average middle-class family. In the 1970s-1980s, the company aimed for a more playful and friendly look to attract its targeted clientele. The minimalism of this period was intended to appear more approachable and welcoming.

Continental Airlines' "Must-Haves" include ensuring that passengers arrive at their desired destinations on time with their luggage, maintaining on-time arrival and departure schedules, advertising cost-friendly travel, and providing exceptional customer service throughout the entire flight experience. Additionally, the airline should have attractive branding with a clean, modern logo, and a cohesive brand identity. Management ought to demonstrate leadership by fostering a clean and collaborative team environment and promoting positive attitudes among staff and employees. Continental Airlines cannot afford to have undesirable flights and fails to attract clients by maintaining an inefficient daily flight schedule with too many flights going to the same destination.

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