To put some context on that point: when the Communist revolution deposed Bautista in 1959 they [the revolutionaries] nationalized a lot of American business assets, and many of the “upper crust” of people in Bautista’s orbit fled as refugees to the US and they [the refugees] along with the businesses that had assets nationalized lobbied the fuck out of the government to impose those sanctions, and continue to lobby to keep those same sanctions in place until their grievances are “properly addressed” to their liking.

Also totally doesn’t help that the powers that be in the US really don’t want even a semi-functional socialistic/communistic government to exist.

For one, Non parle Espagnol.

For two, I don’t exactly have the resources (cash-in-hand) to get to Cuba.

For three, why the fuck would I have to move to Cuba in order to not eat as much meat? I can eat less meat here (and very slightly reduce the demand for meat while doing so) just as well where I currently live.

Four, from an energy transfer standpoint eating plants directly is an order of magnitude more efficient than raising plants for a “middle cow” to eat then I eat the cow.

Yep. With MCAS the MAX had the same flight characteristics as the OG 737, so by adding it Boeing was able to manufacture them under the original 737 production certificate, which is/was a MASSIVE loophole that hopefully the FAA has closed (I have not checked as I got the hell out of Boeing earlier this year due to culture issues when I got called back from a layoff).

It turns out that people who survived [in upper management] the Boeing/McDonnell-Douglas merger in the 90’s were the scum-sucking corporate raider types who would take a league if you give them an inch who would exploit things like vague regulations/legislation for a payday and set up someone who actually kinda sorta gave a crap about longevity of the company as a fall guy. [James McNerney was the President, CEO, and Chairman of Boeing’s Board of Directors while the 737MAX was developed and certified, then resigned before the first deliveries for Muilenberg to take the heat, then Calhoun has taken over once an executive was used as a scapegoat. McNerney and Calhoun are MBA types while Muilenberg was an engineer…]

Technically the 737MAX was on paper the exact same flight characteristics of an non-MAX model at the time of sale, so per regulators there was no need to have the pilots go through it. The Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Air flight 302 tragedies were monumental fuckups from many sources, not just Boeing.

That’s how the 737MAX happened. Trying to extend the lifespan of a design long past when it should have been retired.

As in the 737 was designed during a time when many airports had no baggage handling equipment for loading, so it sits lower to the ground than every other extant Boeing design, which then forced them to move the engine nacelles up when they slapped in the truly massive high-bypass turbofan jets. Moving the nacelles changed flight characteristics of the plane but they put a flight control system from the military side (MCAS) on to bring the planes flight characteristics back in line with the OG 737. The MCAS system got faulty data from sensors on some flights and severely contributed to the downing of those flights. There were specific trim levels on the 737MAX that had/have more advanced troubleshooting features (that’s the safety systems locked behind a paywall of earlier posts), that the airlines of the flights that went down didn’t spring for (new cockpit setup would require that airline to send its pilots in for retraining on the new features).

This is what I pieced together working in Boeing’s fabrication division deburring and hand-finishing wing ribs and spar chords (ribs hold the upper and lower wing skins apart and the spar chords hold the wing skins to the fuselage.) Chances are if you’ve flown on any of the new 777X aircraft parts of the wings I fixed up with angle grinders and hand tools.

If I remember right the wing skins were last made in the 1990’s, so ~30 years lead time?

“On account of Bag End havin’ no eaves sir!”