In other news (apolitical thread)...

[MikeDeTiger]

She's a famous Boilermaker.

Typical woman driver 

[FearlessF]

She's a famous Boilermaker.

that would explain why most have no idear

[betarhoalphadelta]

that would explain why most have no idear

Famous aviator... Disappeared over the Pacific. There's been a lot of speculation on the disappearance b/c the wreck has never been found, and you know how people just LOVE conspiracies...

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

[Cincydawg]

I think in many cases the conspiracists revel in thinking they KNOW something few others, have discovered.  They are "in the know" and the rest of us peons are deluded by "mass media" and the guvmint.

Most make little sense to me, and very few would alter my life in any way if I KNEW the real truth of it.  If the CIA assassinated JFK and not Oswald, well, OK, nice story, doesn't really change much.  If the Earth is flat, well, that would be interesting of course.  If there really are "chemtrails" and not "contrails", well, OK with me I guess.  Why is someone spending a vast sum on them?

[MikeDeTiger]

Never crossed my mind that people don't know who she was.  We learned about her in elementary school.  

How can my snarky comments simultaneously poking fun at truth in stereotypes and misogyny land if people don't know who she was?  

Did not know she was a Boilermaker.  So I should probably add something about Purdue grads to my snark.  

[Cincydawg]

I like the word "aviatrix".  I think it's a word.

[Gigem]

Never crossed my mind that people don't know who she was.  We learned about her in elementary school. 

How can my snarky comments simultaneously poking fun at truth in stereotypes and misogyny land if people don't know who she was? 

Did not know she was a Boilermaker.  So I should probably add something about Purdue grads to my snark. 

I think everybody from Gen X and earlier knew who she was, but I have no idea about the younger generation.  She got a lot of press, but truly did she deserve it?  She was simply just a woman pilot, was there really anything much about her impressive?  If anything she proved that she wasn't a great pilot because she didn't finish the job.  I'm sure there were lots of men with about the same pedigree that were flying during those years that disappeared into history, I'm sure many of them crashed with no trace but nobody remembers those guys either.  

[Cincydawg]

At that time, the notion a WOMAN could operate an airplane was quite something.  Men then mostly believed women to be inferior, subject to mood swings, too hysterical to be trusted with anything complicated or sensitive.  So, when this woman proved she could fly various rather complex missions it worked to counter that.  Folks presumed me could do whatever, but a woman?

Piloting an airplane over vast stretches of water before GPS or anything else, what's called pilotage, is nontrivial.  Even over land with few obvious landmarks is nontrivial.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Never crossed my mind that people don't know who she was.  We learned about her in elementary school. 

How can my snarky comments simultaneously poking fun at truth in stereotypes and misogyny land if people don't know who she was? 

Did not know she was a Boilermaker.  So I should probably add something about Purdue grads to my snark. 

Yeah, I don't know how FF doesn't know who she was. 

My guess is that he did know, but it's one of the many things from elementary school that has flown the coop from his brain over the years 

BTW I had actually completely forgotten that she was a Boilermaker until I went back to take my son on college tours this past summer, and we were walking by the dorm named after her, Earhart Hall. 

[FearlessF]

disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939)

Elementary school???

I'm not as old as Cincy!

[Cincydawg]

I saw one conspiracy notion she was spying on the Japanese who shot her down.  That doesn't make sense to me, but whatever.  It's entirely plausible they simply got lost over water and ran out of fuel.  I noted above piloting over water is difficult and prone to human error.  An offset of 1° one your course means an error of 1 NM every 60 NMs.

[MikeDeTiger]

I saw one conspiracy notion she was spying on the Japanese who shot her down.  That doesn't make sense to me, but whatever.  It's entirely plausible they simply got lost over water and ran out of fuel.  I noted above piloting over water is difficult and prone to human error.  An offset of 1° one your course means an error of 1 NM every 60 NMs.

So she probably got lost 'cuz she couldn't read directions.  Yep, typical woman driver 

[Brutus Buckeye]

There are a bunch of giant arrows around here that used to guide aircrafts to their destination.