Gorth

A bit of military history. A toss up between the funny thread, the weird/random/etc thread or the military thread. A fun watch in any case... The voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet (Second Pacific Squadron) in the Russo-Japanese war is a tale of ridiculous blunder after blunder, a disaster from start to finish. The last ditch effort for Russian naval superiority in the Russo-Japanese war required a voyage never before taken by a coal-powered fleet. To help matters, the fleet was crewed by conscripted peasants who had little to no experience or education when it came to naval operation. Over the 18,000 mile journey, the fleet attacked civilian vessels from multiple global powers, shot at their own ships, killed fellow sailors with negligence of safety standards, destroyed city's communication grids, and so much more. This event will go down in history as one of Russia's most embarrassing military performances, but on the bright side, at least it gives you one fantastic hard-to-believe story to tell at your next dinner party!

It was just me alluding to people who give up on their independence and let religious dogma do their thinking for them are all very similar. Whatever they call themselves.

Not really "ha ha" funny, but more in the somewhat amusing category. A Kiwi cinema worker struggling to record a message and afterwards realize he had failed to delete his failed attempts (always ending in profanity), which then in turn greeted people calling the cinema https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-58449868 The man was trying to inform customers that the Movie Max in Timaru was closed due to Covid restrictions. But, the employee struggled to get his words out and that left him frustrated.

Next up, Texas going to criminalise wanking, because you’re depriving all those poor little sperm cells of their god given right to become a person… Just kidding, not going to happen, as that would impact the male half of the population. Not misogynistic enough. You have to ask yourself, if the Taliban were running Texas, what would they do?

I don't think any outsiders truly knows what Finns are saying

Well, in all fairness, I'm old enough that I should be concerned about catching it. Even with a life insurance, it places a burden on other people having to do all the funeral arrangements Second shot is scheduled for 6th of October, so about 5 weeks from now. A sore spot around the injection site is all I feel at the moment, but it may change over the weekend. Colleagues told me they felt a bit "wasted" the day after.

Got my first BioNTech/Pfizer shot 10 minutes ago. Still alive and not abducted by aliens, growing extra limbs or feeling an irresistible urge to worship Microsoft

Food bank QLD is one of two charities I support edit: money donations not food donations

Since I was on a roll (and with my nose into dusty cd cases)

I was dusting off old music cd's and ran across an old OMD album...

You're wrong. China has a proven track record of dealing with people who were "tribal" in nature. Nothing like concentration camps and ethnic genocide to fix such small problems, all to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of China... China hasn't been communist for the last 20+ years. The rhetoric has for the last couple of decades been identical to the authoritarian European regimes in the interwar period (1919-1939). I.e. Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany and Franco's Spain. Xi is doing the very Chinese thing, stealing whatever idea isn't bolted to the floor and most of what he does is ripping off rhetoric spouted in the past in the West, just... being made in China at a questionable manufacturing quality. In short, it's the poster child of a nationalist, totalitarian state where individuals are to be sacrificed for the benefit of your (un-elected) leaders. Chinese "Housing projects" for ethnic minorities and tribal people: Chinese democracy in action. As you can see, it's much better than its western counterparts in supporting the Chinese people's freedoms:

Just adding, the poster seems to be French, so charge/chargez is likely "load", i.e. unable to load a saved game for the die hard English speakers here....

The math was funny though... as a rule of thumb (in my particular line of business), very, very rough numbers that never applies exactly to a project, so take with a tonne of salt, it's more like 50% analysis & design, 30% coding and 20% debugging and rework. The rest... the client can get billed through support.

And here I thought it was because locust swarms helps to reduce the calorie intake worldwide... Entirely personal opinion, but I do believe the majority of world obesity is a result of a mix of lifestyle and culture. Too much availability of the wrong things because they're cheap to manufacture and distribute and a scarcity of the good things, unless your wallet can support accessing it. I know, a generalization and as such will always have exceptions.

Hello foot, meet M4... or how to shoot yourself in the foot? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58356045 Afghanistan: Black Hawks and Humvees - military kit now with the Taliban A video recently posted on social media showed Taliban fighters looking on as an iconic piece of US materiel (military hardware) - a Black Hawk helicopter - was piloted across Kandahar airport. The four-blade multi-purpose aircraft was just taxiing on the tarmac, but the exercise sent a message to the world: the Taliban were no longer a group of ragtag soldiers wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles on battered pickup trucks. Elsewhere, since the fall of Kabul on 15 August to the hard-line Islamist group, the Taliban's fighters have been pictured showing off a host of US-made weaponry and vehicles. Some of them were seen in complete combat gear in social media posts and couldn't be distinguished from other special forces from across the world. There was no characteristic long beard, or traditional salwar kameez outfit, and certainly no rusted weapons. They looked the part. ... Some on social media said this made the Taliban the only extremist group with an air force. Some strategy somewhere failed... the article outlines numbers and types, including 3000+ Humvees and 167 aircraft (fixed wing and helicopters) that could now potentially be in Taliban hands. Emphasis on potentially as several are likely either destroyed or moved abroad. Still, brings back memories of the Ayatollahs of Iran fielding US fighter planes (provided for the former Shah) against the Iraqi MIG's during the war between the two. Edit: That was back when people in the west were cheering for Saddam as being "the good guy"

Spent all Sunday evening at one of the local theaters here in Brisbane together with friends. Something called Short+Sweet the gala finals https://thetivoli.com.au/events/short-and-sweet A bit like xyz got talent, except it was the winners of a number of competitions all over Queensland competing for the votes of the audience and the professional judges. Each team (1-4 people) had 10 minutes for their performance. It was absolutely fantastic and varied. From improvised rap over serious drama to cabaret and humour. I loved it. The margarita were good too

...and *that* is why projects always overrun their budgets

"And it was shut down by the Bureau of Fish and Wildlife during dessert."

And it's not limited to a single country either. Being an a-hole is an international thing. While this may be the case in the US: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/why-the-far-right-and-militia-groups-are-protesting-coronavirus-lockdowns-in-the-us/febe93e3-3796-42e6-94b5-599143d43959 Why the far-right and militia groups are protesting coronavirus lockdowns in the US ... The biggest anti-lockdown protest to date took place in Lansing, Michigan on 15 April, where about 3,000 people gathered. Mr Trump appeared to tweet support for demonstrators in Michigan, as well as those in Virginia and Minnesota, where coronavirus lockdowns were imposed by Democratic governors. Elliott Brennan, a research associate at the United States Studies Centre, said it was no surprise the "fringe" far-right groups were mobilising in those states. “It’s no coincidence Trump and the shady underworld of the far-right have singled out those places," he said. "They’re all crucial to Trump for his possible re-election in November and places where the Democrats can be made to see culpable for the afflictions people in those states are feeling as a result of the coronavirus.” But, every country has it's own problems (the US had Trump, we're still stuck with Scott Morrison, if only because there has been no election since he ****ed up the handling of the bushfires so badly) https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/inside-telegram-fringe-groups-behind-protests-where-conspiracy-theories-spread/news-story/6d92de607490f2515c9ee0fa04c713e8 Shared widely on Telegram and Facebook are messages about storming the press conferences of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian with an army of “100,000”. The proponents of “freedom rallies” in Australia’s two largest cities, attended by as many as 30,000 people, are devout followers of QAnon, members of the far-right and prominent anti-vaxxers who refer to the majority in lockdown as “masked zombie slaves” with “nothing inside them at all”. “The “pandemic” is a cover for a currency reset (aka the Great Reset) and everything that comes along with it is a smokescreen,” one Telegram user wrote in the Sydney Freedom Rally group — an offshoot of the main organising group, the Worldwide Rally for Freedom. Others call for more extreme measures. These are mostly just morons. Gullible, easy to manipulate and completely incapable of independent, critical thinking. Oh yeah and a few populist leaders who are happy to walk over corpses (the more the better) if it helps their wallets and keep them in power. Then there are the better organized groups with a different agenda. It's still about power, but they want to use the means to a different end than the above: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/08/26/neo-nazi-anti-lockdown-recruit/ Neo-Nazis are targeting anti-lockdown rallies and using covert tactics to indoctrinate frustrated Australians into their hate-filled and violent ideology. At least two leaders of the far-right National Socialist Network were at Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protest on the weekend, trying to recruit new members to their group, The New Daily can reveal. It comes as Anti Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich, warned extremist groups are using the COVID crisis to “fan the flames” of hatred, resulting in increased anger towards the Jewish community. Before the weekend rally, the two neo-Nazi leaders, who TND has chosen not to name, appeared on a far-right anti-semitic YouTube show watched by almost 1000 people. ... Different source, same issue: https://www.theage.com.au/national/political-ambitions-and-anti-lockdown-protests-how-neo-nazis-seek-to-spread-influence-20210813-p58imf.html Politicians on both sides have called for Australia’s largest neo-Nazi group to be banned as a terrorist organisation after secret video and audio emerged of its violent inner workings and hopes to provoke a race war. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said on Monday that the National Socialist Network’s activities were disturbing and warned the threat posed by “extremist nationalist and racist individuals and groups is real and growing”. In some ways, I find the latter more disturbing than the outright stupid. Evil *and* stupid.

I'm sure they'll find a way to rationalize selling drugs to the "heathen westerners". Digging up some old verse and (re)interpret it to say what they need it to say in order to justify it. I just don't see Iran (and Iraq) support neither ISIS nor Taliban. The latter are Sunni and would probably kill off the majority of Iran and Iraq's populations (being Shiite) given half a chance. ISIS in particular seems to have Shiite Muslims as their favourite targets.

I think I'm getting close to the end of Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (sp?). It's been a fun dungeon romp. I'm not sure about replayability, but it's plenty enough content to make a single play through feel worth the effort. Even if not feeling like any immediate replay, I might pick it up again at a later date or hope for a second game in a similar style. Not 100% what to pick up next, but probably starting a game of Mechanicus and I also had an old Mordheim party that fell by the wayside a few years ago.

The same reason people watch videos of car crashes? I played SR III quite a bit. The DLC too. But... big but... it was always co-op. The game is just fun mechanically and in an over the top way when playing as a team. My friend (a nice girl with a real killer instinct) was just the perfect partner in crime (the same friend I enjoyed completing Borderlands 1, 2 & Prequel as well as Portal 2 with). A very competitive person. Emerging game play much? Probably. Some games are just more fun when played with other people. I would have gotten bored with SR III shortly after start if I had had to play it for the story.

The tl;dr; version of humans

So far 60 dead and 100+ wounded. Including 13 killed Americans in the Kabul Airport attack. ISIS Afghanistan currently being held responsible... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58349010 At least 60 people have been killed and 140 others wounded, a senior health official in Kabul told the BBC. The Pentagon confirmed US service personnel were among those killed - 11 US Marines and a Navy medic. The bombings came hours after Western governments had warned their citizens to stay away from the airport, because of an imminent threat of an attack by IS-K, the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State group.