Cori Bush
@CoriBush
When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people.

This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.
10:48 AM · Jul 4, 2021

Keep in mind, this is a House member who grew up poor, rose to prominence via her activism, and was elected to office by the voters of Missouri. If anyone is representative of the incredible privilege all Americans enjoy at a base level to better themselves, it’s Bush. Yet, instead of showing any gratitude, she proclaims that only white people enjoy the freedom that July 4th represents. //

the term freedom has an actual meaning. For example, not being rich does not mean you lack the freedom to be rich. Yet, people like Bush try to define freedom in terms of specific results instead of freedom of opportunity. That’s asinine because it ignores that people have agency, and the moment you take agency away from people, you are depriving them of said freedom.

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, as we are told every time some bored sportswriter dusts off their collegiate freshman globalization mantra handbook and pens yet another stirring op-ed decrying its status, or lack thereof, within our golden shores. You just don’t understand the beautiful game, comes the cry against those among us who 1) still watch sports of any kind period 2) would rather watch baseball or football or hockey or basketball or tiddlywinks, preferably not involving one spending a few decades altogether too close for comfort. //

In soccer, only the goaltender is allowed to touch the ball with his or her hands. Everyone else is prohibited from using anything from shoulder to fingertip to touch the ball. The preferred method of moving the ball is kicking. Occasionally, a player will bounce the ball off of his or her head in order to make it go in the desired direction. This is called a header. Or, if done improperly, a concussion. //

A player on defense will often try to strip the ball from a player on offense, or a player who’s just plain offensive. This involves trying to either step in-between the ball and the feet of the player who has possession, or sliding at the ball in order to kick it away from the player who has possession. In either case, the player who had possession is required by international law to immediately fall down and writhe in agony much like one who is possessed. This continues until either the player who went after the ball is called for a foul, or no one buys the act of the mortally wounded player at which time he or she will miraculously heal and get back up.

There are many reasons. I love the principles upon which it was founded. I love the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — the words themselves and the ideas enshrined in them.

I love that the men who authored those documents valued liberty and recognized the perils of concentrated power enough to attempt to guard against them in a way that, while imperfect, has enabled millions of people to thrive and prosper, while enjoying a degree of freedom previously unknown.

I love that we elect our leaders — as imperfect (and frustrating) a process as that often is.

I love that millions of people have made a point to come HERE because of the opportunities this country holds.

I love that we have a beautiful country full of wonders both natural and man-made and we can travel about it freely.

I love that American ingenuity has led to a wide array of discoveries, inventions and innovations.

I love that you and I can see things totally differently and express that freely.

I’m well aware that our country is far from perfect. I don’t agree with everything we’ve ever done as a nation. I know there’s more than ample room for improvement. But — I guess I see it sort of like many of us regard a family member — imperfect, flawed, but beautiful and beloved.

Happy birthday, America! Now celebrate with some warbird trivia...

While no two thunderstorms are the same, the graphic below explains the basics of what thunderstorm movement looks like. There are times you'll find stationary storms, but with winds aloft, your decision making must adjust accordingly. If you have to fly around thunderstorms, you want to find clear air to visually separate yourself from the storm. Unless you have onboard radar, embedded thunderstorms are difficult, if not impossible to navigate around. And even with onboard radar, navigating through embedded storms can be challenging.

In this example, let's make staying in clear air the first priority.

Generally speaking, you'll find the best chance for clear, smooth air on the upwind side of a thunderstorm. On top of that, you're typically in more sunny conditions on the upwind side. From a passenger's perspective, sunny weather is almost always more enjoyable than cloudy weather, even if the same amount of turbulence is present in both conditions. //

One rule-of-thumb is to avoid the downwind anvil side of a thunderstorm by at least 1 mile for every 1 knot of wind at that flight level.

Skeptical Techie
2 hours ago
You forgot the offside rule (sorry Law). Its seeming purpose is to perplex all experienced and very skilled sandlot players, fans, novices (who rarely understand it was called and have absolutely zero idea why play stopped with the ball given to the formerly defensive team {"side" in soccer ~football in football parlance~ parlance), and the referees themselves. Virtually nobody understands this rule except for some coaches (some each of rec, select and pro). All (except the refs) get upset and yell incoherently for most of the calls.

And soccer (so called only in the USA, Canada and sort-of in Japan, almost everybody else calls it football, fut, foot or some variant, the Italians call it il calcio, the kick) has its own language with various dialects based on native language and who knows what else.

Kick Off: First Touch

Side Line: Touch Line
Goal Line: Goal Line <== But nobody learning the sport can believe it is actually called that.
Team: Side
Uniform: Kit
How many referees: Really super hard to tell. It keeps changing. (not a definition but...).

Rule: Law
Rules: Laws of the Game
Game: Match
Field: Pitch

Positions: Aside from Goalkeeper/goalie/keeper and forward, the rest are more guidelines than anything really instructive as to what they do.
Fan: Fan
Violent Fan: Hooligan

MVP: Man of the Match <== Never heard "Woman of the Match" declared at a women's match...
Big Box near goal: Technical Area (but for a game with seemingly so many inscrutable rules why is this area THE technical area and not everything within the boundary lines (d4mn1t, within the touch and goal lines).

Small Box near goal: Goal Box (seems too simple and easy).

My favorite rule[law]: The offside rule. It's application (enforcement) has three (3) exceptions which really boil down to only one exception, whenever the ball has gone outside the "field of play" (yes it is a "pitch", but never mind that). So the three exceptions are on a throw-in, a corner kick and (the usually forgotten exception) a goal kick (when the goalie/keeper is given the ball to kick, with a single touch only, back into play from within their goal box). Of course in each instance, the ball had just been sent out of "the field of play" and is being brought back in to restart play. So why not just say that? Nobody knows, except maybe it would make it more understandable to players, coaches, refs and fans alike.

There is one (ONE) term that soccer/football aficionados get right and is simply put:

"Own goal". Yes, this is the easiest one to figure out. Some simp just scored on his/her "own goal". Not safety, not touch back (and what is the difference anyway?). Just "own goal". And, guess who is the first player out of the soccer park that day (skip the showers, I'm outta here). Only weeks later are the beers on the own goal fool..