Waldo Pepper

I don't have a Samsung G8, but I do have an LG oled tv. Many TV's have default picture modes which lean toward the blue end of the color temperature spectrum. Sunlight is approx. 6500k (Kelvin) and most content is mastered in the D65 White Point, but some displays are closer to 7500k by default. This makes everything look a bit washed out, imo. See if your G8 has any picture modes closer to 6500k. Try "Warm 1". I use "Filmmaker mode" on my LG OLED. Modes like "vivid" can be the worst offenders. I also set digital vibrance to 55 in the nvidia cp. D65 white point, Filmmaker mode,

I have a USB DAC doing audio out, the motherboard's sound chip doing MIC-IN and Transducer output from either SIMHAPTIC or SimShaker. Works perfectly. /I prefer Simhaptic

Anyone else notice the BMP textures in FS-Base with names like "sky_afternoon_0", "sky_dawn_3", etc

Nobody beats their visuals, beautiful models.

That is solved to a large degree by using the Windows HDR Calibration tool. https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-hdr-calibration/9N7F2SM5D1LR?hl=en-us&gl=us&rtc=1 I've run an 48" LG CX oled since a few months before the sim was released. I also have a 48" LG C3. Filmmaker mode offers the best picture quality, imo. I used the windows calibration tool and set it's slider for more saturation, and I also set digital vibrance to 55 in the Nvidia Cp. Game Mode, Standard mode, vivid, by default all set the color balance to an unnatural blue. It destroyed the mid-tones in MSFS, imo. The blue does look brighter, which some may prefer. But filmmaker looks so much better after getting used to it.

Won't be able to check this out until the weekend arrives, but it looks interesting. Always liked the form of the Bronco. https://flightsim.to/file/61093/north-american-rockwell-ov-10-bronco

Tower view would be nice.

I too have REX and Zinnertek runway textures, I prefer the Zinnertek v4.0 as well.

I've been running REX seasons, set to update the current season every week. Bijan's trees are better, but I quite like REX. Stopped using Bijan's when he went awol a year or two ago. He's very talented, but he's been going through some tragic events irl. Fairly certain he lost some family members during the pandemic, but memory might deceive me. Hopefully Bijan will persevere over his tragedies and make a triumphant return. Spoke to him several times, and he seemed like a good person. He was very easy to contact, and very responsive prior to his absence. That said, Mamu82 and PuffinFlight are MSFS GOATS imo.

The flooding and landslides from this are horrific. I watched an interstate highway and it's concrete barriers transform into a river, with thousands of sleeping truck drivers stuck in a traffic jam. And a river of mud slowly pushing a field of boulders down a ravine into a valley below. I've been studying geology since the pandemic, and it's pretty wild to see nature reshape the earth in real-time. The average person just doesn't understand how powerful the forces of water can be. All the water in such a short time causes dangerous spikes in the hydrologic pressures of ground soil.

Looks like the K7 was updated two days ago. https://flightsim.to/file/34815/schleicher-k7-glider IF you have the K7 imperial gauges mod installed it's no loner relevant. Supposedly it can interfere with the new variometer tones.

Placed rather well during a two hour soaring event, dropped my ballast to land, and forgot to lower my gear. I was so chuffed as I gently sat the glider down on the field, and then I was immediately confronted with the crash screen. Never had a chance to screenshot the nav display to record my time.

I bought a SimHaptic license and it seems to be quite nice. I own a Sim Shaker license, and I have two Aura Pro transducers bolted under my seat in a L/R 2-channel configuration. I'm using my motherboard's audio to drive the 75w rms x 2 channel amp. (Dayton Audio APA150 Amp With 2 Aura Pro Bass Shakers Bundle) (Same amp with Dayton transducers) Things I like: 1)With SimShaker I had to install legacy versions of SimConnect from FSX. This is not necessary with SimHaptic. 👍 2)I prefer the interface of SimHaptic. It's quite easy to use, and I like the way it's profile system functions without much user intervention. 3)This is subjective, but SimHaptic's output feels noticeably more complex. I also like the spectrum analyzer in the SH interface. I just took a flight in the An-2. The default SH profile had the avionics fan whine / vibration too intense, and the engine vibrations felt more like an inline. It only took one click to dial down the avionics, and three clicks to change the engine profile to what really felt like a big radial. I can feel the haptic feedback through my entire rig, from the seat, to the pedals, to the stick/hotas. Engine sounds felt nice, ground roll felt convincing, etc. I'm sticking with SH. The introductory price was well worth it. Edit: Have an old home theater receiver laying around? https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/bass-shakers

The story of Karen Silkwood is another interesting one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

During "Operation Large Area Coverage", the US government dusted several American cities with radioactive particles containing the isotope Radium 226. St. Louis, Missouri for example. https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills161/hlrbillspdf/5803H.01I.pdf

Quite insane, as far as I'm concerned. I'm always reminded of the words of Neutron Bomb creator Samuel Cohen, As an American, during the cold war we were always taught that the Russians were the threat. But when I watch that testing, to me at least, it looks more like we were the craziest sobs on the block. If anything, it looks like the Russians began their major escalation in response to us testing hundreds of devices. I truly think we scared the living word not allowed out of them, enough to bankrupt them. (and nearly us) Our own president and many of our scientists had plans to build harbors, canals, frack gas, excavate mountain passes, create lakes, connect underground aquifers, with atomic devices. They called it, "Project Plowshare". In Operation "Gas Buggy", they used a nuke to frack. It worked, but the gas was too radioactive for commercial use. So they lit a flare and let it burn. It's hard to argue that we didn't contaminate the globe. Today sunken WWII ships are being salvaged with their war dead aboard, because their uncontaminated steel has extreme value in the medical or scientific industries. But it's striking to consider how fast and loose our government played the game. Contaminating neighborhoods, lying. But there were other sites like the Hanford site, the Paducah Kentucky Gaseous Diffusion Plant, etc. The legacy of contamination is real.

Correct, that tone is the variometer. An ascending tone indicates a stronger thermal. The variometer can be configured to display the current value in knots, m/sec, or feet/sec. Clayton is flying the Got Friends Discus 2c. There is a freeware and a payware version of the 2c. The Discus 2c, JS3 Rapture, and AS-33-ME have the most recent and most accurate flight models. The 2c is a standard class glider with no flaps, the other two are flapped competition sailplanes. The Default MSFS gliders look great, but have inaccurate flight models and the variometers aren't well calibrated. Their glide ratios are off, and their nav displays don't feature a glider tasking system. The DG 808s is another popular MSFS glider. I flew it almost exclusively, but then I learned that it's glide ratio at high speeds is way too high compared to IRL, and it gives the 808 a roughly 20 knot cruise speed advantage at 140 knots which it doesn't have IRL. I stopped flying it altogether until it's corrected. Many people in the group still fly it though, I think most people aren't aware. Like I said, it's not a race. Just for fun. The JS3 features a sailplane task system built into it's nav display, as does the AS-33. You can view or create soaring tasks with the B21 Task Planner website. It will allow you to insert altitude and radius constraints for each waypoint. For example, you could set the starting line to have a max alt of 5,000, and a max radius of 2,000. You could make a turn point atop a mountain, with a very small radius. Every week someone at SSC creates a new task which is posted each Saturday a few hours prior to each event. There will be a .pln and a weather preset posted. The .pln was created with B21 task planner and it contains the waypoint tasks, the JS3 and AS33 soaring computer can display that information on the nav display. The Discus, the DG 808, and the default DG1001e don't have task computers in their nav display. For them you have to download the LXN Nav mod, which the JS and AS33 don't need. In this video, Ian "b21" Lewis talks about the JS3. Ian and MADolo of MADolo simulations have released many freeware sailplanes. The JS3 is the most recent, and he spent a ridiculous amount of time tweaking the flight model. So I'd say it's probably the most accurate glider at the moment.

Multiplayer isn't particularly demanding with respect to your connection. Many groups use the SE Asia server because it's supposedly less populated. We have people from all over planet and I don't recall any complaints. I'm on the US east coast and my ping is around 249ms, it doesn't seem to matter. It's a blast though, there is something serene about being in a sailplane and looking out at all the sailplanes soaring around you. Soaring is a constant stream of decisions mixed with gawking at scenery as it passes by in close proximity, but when you add in the 30+ other guys it's so engaging that people stop talking and start concentrating. "It's not a race", but that doesn't stop the competitive juices from flowing. One of our guys posted his flight from last week. At the start the entire group followed a small detour along a ridge to use the strong ridge lift. I was much too hard headed to do that though. I thought I could stay on track and make it across the valley, then find lift on the other end. Flew through nothing but sink. Disqualified myself in the first 10 minutes because I had to slew up. I have a bad habit of pushing it too far and avoiding of the safe and sure path. Comes back to bite me more than it helps me sometimes, but I like the feeling when it works. 🤣 Spent the rest of the flight as a tourist.

It's just the way it is, man. I've probably posted over a dozen glider community flights here, and as far as I can tell nobody from here has ever participated. Not once. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make one drink. Unpowered group flights are one of the most intense activities you can participate in. Every split second is a new wager against yourself, let alone the other 30+ pilots. But people are just not interested. Not criticizing, you understand. To each his own, but sometimes I think that people don't know what they are missing. About the only replies I ever get is people who point out whatever MSFS does wrong, but they never join a group flight to see what it get's right. Reminds me of being a kid when I attended Catholic school and wouldn't eat peas. The Mother Superior called my mother, and she had to come to school. My mom ended up making me eat the peas, at least one spoonful she said. That was the day I discovered that I actually loved peas.

If you try the JS3, flaps 1 is -3 deg, flaps 2 is zero degrees, 3,4,5 are positive. Use flaps 1 after 90 knots, flaps 2 from 70 to 90, Use flaps 4 in tight thermals, flaps 5 when the thermal requires minimal centering. This chart shows the glide ratio vs flap setting and airspeed, glide ratios circled in red. The JS3 download includes the 15m and the removable 18m wing tips. The manual is located in "JS3-18_MadoloB21_2.0.2\SimObjects\Airplanes\JS 3 18m Aircraft\docs"

You can expect an international crowd. Cordial bunch. Mix of IRL glider pilots and sim pilots. If you "don't do discord", just show up at LFKF at 18:00 UTC on the SE Asia server and follow the group! (SE Asia server is used because it has low traffic, works great even though my ping is really bad) The starting gate has a 4,000 ft max alt. You have to cross under it or the task won't start on your nav display. The turn points have a 1000m max radius.

.PLN and .WPR here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SfdoRLmN9srHDEB1r0tVqV79VQWYo9h4/view?usp=sharing You can examine task and weather by dragging and dropping them here, https://xp-soaring.github.io/tasks/b21_task_planner/index.html I recommend the Jonker JS3 Rapture, or the Schleicher AS 33 ME. (The default MSFS gliders have great models, but the variometers don't function correctly and the glide ratios are incorrect among other issues)

The AN-2 cockpit is beautiful in VR.

Kind of renders the phrase "natural background radiation" a bit interesting on this planet.