"That was the norm for the larger planes to brief everything to death and disect every little notam. It was not the norm on the NB fleet. If the weather was bad...who cares...you were still going. Put on more gas."

BS!

I have been at UAL for 35 years and I have met my Captains and F/Os for the entire time. Rarely do we brief anything to death, it is a perfect time to meet and establish ourselves as a crew, not a one man show with a helper, not a JAFFO.