The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread..

[Gfted1]

Really?  I could have sworn there was a thread where dogs and pepper spray cannons on their back was mentioned and that was linked back to drone deployment.

I cant give you a hard "no" on that and your memory is much better than mine. Although a quick forum search did turn up a couple of posts about dogs that shoot bee's out of their mouths.

[Amentep]

Yep, dachshunds with pepper spray cannons on their back. Deployed into action from airborne drone carriers.

 

 

Yes!  That was it!

 

EDIT: I have to say now I'm having visions of a strategy game where the player is presented a series of missions to break up mobs of rioters/looters/morris dancers/etc. and they all have to be solved by some combination of drones, dachshunds with pepper spray canons and trained bees.

 

Drones are great for mobility and surveillance but yours have no armaments (other than bees or dachshunds).  You can fly them into mobs and bonk people but prone to breaking.  People hate drones and try to break them when they spot them.  Drones deploy dachshunds and only get frustrated when you do.

 

Dachshunds are mobile and no one wants to hurt them because they're loveable.  But the pepper spray cannons while having a long, acurate range only have so much pepper spray in them.  And when its gone, you basically have a dachshund on your side (unless you have trained bee access - dachshunds can also be used to deploy trained bees).  Dachsunds never get frustrated, because people love to give them belly rubs, which they love.  This could lead to "critical mission failure: lost to belly rub" though.

 

Trained bees are highly mobile.  They can be trained for a variety of tasks (up to three per mission).  However they get frustrated easily; player looses control of them and they swarm.  10% of any mob is allergic to bees.  Using them for direct dispersal is possible, but it increases the likelyhood of killing mobs of people too.

 

You goal is to break up the mob while not gaining too much bad press (killing too many mobbers, destroying too much property, having to replace too many dachshunds because they were belly rubbed so much they defected to the enemy).

 

If I was a trillionaire, I'd make this happen.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Amentep

[Raithe]

For that bout of history..

 

Warhistory Online - Come and Fight a Gurkha

 

 

“I had to fight because there was no other way.  I felt I was going to die anyway, so I might as well die standing on my feet.  All I knew was that I had to go on and hold them back.  I am glad that helped the other soldiers in my platoon, but they would have all done the same thing.”

 

Gurung was born in the village of Dakhani, in the Tanahu District of Nepal, the son of Partiman Gurung. He joined the British Indian Army in December 1940, permitted to enlist in wartime although only 4’11” tall and so below the peacetime minimum height. He was 27 years old, and a Rifleman in the 4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles, in the Indian Army during World War II when the following deed took place in May 1945 for which he was awarded the VC.

 

His Battalion was part of the 89th Indian Infantry Brigade of 7th Indian Infantry Division, which was ordered to cross theIrrawaddy River and attack Japanese forces to the north of the road from Prome to Taungup. The Japanese withdrew towards Taungdaw, where Gurung was part of the two companies of the 4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles waiting, when the Japanese attacked in force in the early morning.

 

On 12/13 May 1945 at Taungdaw, Burma [now Myanmar], Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward post of his platoon which bore the brunt of an attack by at least 200 of the Japanese enemy. Twice he hurled back grenades which had fallen on his trench, but the third exploded in his right hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded but the rifleman, now alone and disregarding his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand for four hours, calmly waiting for each attack which he met with fire at point blank range. Afterwards, when the casualties were counted, it is reported that there were 31 dead Japanese around his position which he had killed, with only one arm.

 

He received his Victoria Cross from the Viceroy of India, Field Marshal Lord Wavell at the Red Fort in Delhi on 19 December 1945.

At the end of April, the 89th Indian brigade from Slim’s 7th division was ordered across the Irrawaddy river to destroy a Japanese force as it withdrew towards the Taungdaw valley. Gurung’s 4th battalion of the 8th Gurkha Rifles detached two companies to block their escape.

 

But instead, it was the Gurkhas who were encircled and cut off. At the village of Taungdaw, Rifleman Gurung was helping to man a small forward position some 100m in front of the rest of the Gurkhas and came under attack by hundreds of Japanese. An enemy victory at that point would have been a major setback for the British.

During a savage action, Gurung twice snatched up Japanese grenades and threw them back before they detonated. Another landed on the outer edge of his trench and Gurung attempted a third “return to sender”, but the grenade went off in his right hand, destroying his fingers, shattering his right arm and wounding other parts with shrapnel.

Gurung ignored his many wounds and carried on firing with his left hand – a considerable feat, as the bolt-action rifles of the day were made for right-handed use. “Come and fight a Gurkha!” he yelled, as wave after wave of Japanese troops tried for four hours to overrun the position. They failed. The 4th/8th Gurkhas held out for another 48 hours until relieved on 15 May.

 

Gurung was born in the Tanhu district of Nepal, the Gurkhas’ homeland. He joined up at the end of 1940, even though, at 4ft 11in, he fell one inch short of the minimum height standard of the brigade. After his heroic stand, Gurung lost his right hand and was left blind in his right eye. He remained on active service until 1947, when India became independent, and he transferred to its army, retiring later in the year with the rank of havildar (sergeant).

 

Like many of his comrades, he became a smallholder back in Nepal, with a handful of stock. A welfare fund supported by the VC and GC Association built a new house for him and his family. In his spare time, he worked for veteran causes, coming to London in 1995 to accept a six-figure cheque on behalf of the Gurkha Welfare Fund from the prime minister, John Major.

 

In 2008 the diminutive figure of Gurung, always wearing his row of medals, with the VC in pride of place, became a familiar sight in the British media, alongside another Gurkha VC holder, as they fought for Gurkha veterans’ right to settle in Britain on retirement. The actor Joanna Lumley, daughter of a British Gurkha officer, led a highly visible and ultimately successful campaign. Gurung also managed to persuade the Home Office to rescind a deportation order against his granddaughter, who was looking after him in west London.

[Malcador]

[Malcador]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-32202466

 

 

Police in one Indian city plan to use drones armed with pepper spray to disperse unruly crowds, it's reported.

Gfted1 is on to something.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Malcador

[Gfted1]

See! You guys and gals just don't appreciate my genius.

 

Also, "less harsh" than a baton charge had me lol-ing.

[Malcador]

[Calax]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/directv-rob-lowe-ad-asked-pulled-after-comcast-complaint/

 

How is it that this company can force things off the air for being without basis in fact... but when Coke is called on it, coke is allowed to keep right on trucking with Vitamin Water.

[Hurlshort]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/directv-rob-lowe-ad-asked-pulled-after-comcast-complaint/

 

How is it that this company can force things off the air for being without basis in fact... but when Coke is called on it, coke is allowed to keep right on trucking with Vitamin Water.

 

They don't have to stop putting the ads up.  But yeah, hard not to see the hand of Comcast in the background on this one.  

[Valsuelm]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/directv-rob-lowe-ad-asked-pulled-after-comcast-complaint/

 

How is it that this company can force things off the air for being without basis in fact... but when Coke is called on it, coke is allowed to keep right on trucking with Vitamin Water.

 

No one is forcing anyone. Re-read the article.

[Calax]

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/directv-rob-lowe-ad-asked-pulled-after-comcast-complaint/

 

How is it that this company can force things off the air for being without basis in fact... but when Coke is called on it, coke is allowed to keep right on trucking with Vitamin Water.

 

No one is forcing anyone. Re-read the article.

 

True, but tone of the reasons that DirectTV probably pulled the campaign was because of the fact that the complaint was built up from their competitor. 

 

http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/41542-vitaminwater-deceptive-marketing-class-action-settlement/

 

That took 3 years before a settlement was reached and wasn't even touched by the better business bureau or anyone like that.

[Valsuelm]

 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/directv-rob-lowe-ad-asked-pulled-after-comcast-complaint/

 

How is it that this company can force things off the air for being without basis in fact... but when Coke is called on it, coke is allowed to keep right on trucking with Vitamin Water.

 

No one is forcing anyone. Re-read the article.

 

True, but tone of the reasons that DirectTV probably pulled the campaign was because of the fact that the complaint was built up from their competitor. 

 

http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/41542-vitaminwater-deceptive-marketing-class-action-settlement/

 

That took 3 years before a settlement was reached and wasn't even touched by the better business bureau or anyone like that.

 

 

In one case you have a company arguably slandering another company with false info, and in another just a case of arguable false advertising that only hurts the gullible and uninformed consumer, maybe. Proving you are damaged in some manner is monumentally easier in the former example than it is in the latter.

 

A single entity (company or person) is just about always going to have an easier time in a legal battle than any class action body, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is ability to organize a legal suit. Anyone who actually suffers some kind of damage from libel is just about always going to have a far easier time getting their case to move forward than someone whose damages don't amount to much more than they were duped out of a few bucks.

[Gorth]

This looks like a job for Inspector Clouseau!

 

The Pink Panther strikes again

 

Thieves may have got away with a record haul of diamonds after a brazen heist in London's diamond district netted an estimated £200 million worth (275 million euro, $300 million) of gems, media reported Wednesday.

 

Burglars broke into a vault at a safe deposit centre in Hatton Garden, where many jewellers had left their stocks over the long Easter weekend, and cracked open 70 secure boxes, the police said.

[Amentep]

This looks like a job for Inspector Clouseau!

 

The Pink Panther strikes again

 

Thieves may have got away with a record haul of diamonds after a brazen heist in London's diamond district netted an estimated £200 million worth (275 million euro, $300 million) of gems, media reported Wednesday.

 

Burglars broke into a vault at a safe deposit centre in Hatton Garden, where many jewellers had left their stocks over the long Easter weekend, and cracked open 70 secure boxes, the police said.

 

 

[Hurlshort]

I thought this was a interesting little story:

 

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/alyssa-milano-mad-heathrow-confiscated-breast-milk-184614875.html

 

Basically Alyssa Milano, who I have been in love with since I was a young pup, had breast milk confiscated at the airport because she didn't have the baby with her.  Now for those of you now in the breastfeeding know, the milk is pretty dang precious.  Just imagine trying to squeeze 5 ml of liquid out of your nipples, and you'll get an idea of what goes on behind it.  Super sucky to have to waste any of it. *tsk*

[Valsuelm]

I thought this was a interesting little story:

 

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/alyssa-milano-mad-heathrow-confiscated-breast-milk-184614875.html

 

Basically Alyssa Milano, who I have been in love with since I was a young pup, had breast milk confiscated at the airport because she didn't have the baby with her.  Now for those of you now in the breastfeeding know, the milk is pretty dang precious.  Just imagine trying to squeeze 5 ml of liquid out of your nipples, and you'll get an idea of what goes on behind it.  Super sucky to have to waste any of it. *tsk*

 

Some sicko perv 'security' person probably drank it.

[Raithe]

The Register - China's Great Cannon

 

 

 

China has upgraded the website-blocking systems on its borders, dubbed The Great Firewall, so it can blast foreign businesses and orgs off the internet.

 

Researchers hailing from the University of Toronto, the International Computer Science Institute, the University of California Berkeley, and Princeton University, have confirmed what we've all suspected: China is hijacking web traffic entering the Middle Kingdom to overpower sites critical of the authoritarian state.

 

Typically, connections to web servers in the People's Republic must pass through the nation's border routers, which may inject malicious JavaScript into the fetched web pages. This code forces victims' browsers to silently and continuously fire requests at selected targets.

 

These sites may end up being overwhelmed and crash as a result – a classic denial of service – meaning no one in the world can access them.

It would seem to be a clear case of China engineering a way to knock arbitrary websites off the internet for everyone.

 

Such an attack was launched last month at California-based GitHub.com, which was hosting two projects that circumvented the Great Firewall's censorship mechanisms, and GreatFire.org, a website dedicated to fighting China's web blocking. GitHub mitigated the assault to mostly stay online.

This weaponized firewall has been dubbed the Great Cannon by the researchers, and typically hijacks requests to Baidu's ad network in China. Anyone visiting a website that serves ads from Baidu, for example, could end up unwittingly silencing a foreign site disliked by the Chinese authorities.

(A technical writeup of the GitHub attack by Robert Graham of ErrataSec can be found here.)

 

"In the attack on GitHub and GreatFire.org, the Great Cannon intercepted traffic sent to Baidu infrastructure servers that host commonly used analytics, social, or advertising scripts," the university researchers explained in a blog post on Friday.

 

"If the Great Cannon saw a request for certain JavaScript files on one of these servers, it appeared to probabilistically take one of two actions: it either passed the request onto Baidu’s servers unmolested (roughly 98.25 per cent of the time), or it dropped the request before it reached Baidu and instead sent a malicious script back to the requesting user (roughly 1.75 per cent of the time)."

 

The researchers note that the Great Cannon and Great Firewall are very similarly structured, with both taking internet traffic either coming in or going out of the country and analyzing it before either passing on or redirecting the traffic.

 

A diagram of how the Great Cannon works. Credit: CitizenLab.org
 

Unlike the Great Firewall, however, the Great Cannon operates with a very narrow focus, only intercepting traffic to a few specified locations before injecting it with JavaScript code to carry out the distributed denial-of-service attack.

 

The researchers are also convinced the Chinese government is directly behind the Great Cannon's operations. They note that the Great Cannon and Great Firewall are located in facilities run by state-run Chinese ISPs.

 

"Deploying the Great Cannon is a major shift in tactics, and has a highly visible impact," they wrote.

"It is likely that this attack, with its potential for political backlash would require the approval of high-level authorities within the Chinese government."

Least we think China is alone in this behavior, the researchers note that Great Cannon actually bears a striking resemblance to another web-injection platform – the QUANTUM tool the NSA and GCHQ have used in the past to attack telco sysadmins and other dangerous types. ®

 

 

[Amentep]

Gfted1 might have to rethink his drone defense plans:

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150413-chimpanzee-drone-curious-clever-chimp-attack-zoo/

 

Chimps with sticks 1, Drones 0

[Malcador]

That's why you need many drones. When one falls, ten more can take its place

[Gfted1]

Those damn dirty apes!

[Raithe]

Worlds Most Patient Pet Owner Strolls Tokyo with his huge Tortoise

 

 

 

Turtles have a lot of upsides as pets, such as being quiet and low-maintenance. Of course, they’re not perfect animal companions. For example, just think of how much fun dog-owners have taking their pooches for a walk. You can’t do that with a turtle, can you?

Sure you can, as long as you’re not in a hurry, like this resident of Tokyo out for a stroll with his gigantic pet turtle.

 

Tokyo’s Tsukishima is mostly known for its concentration of monjayaki restaurants, where you can dine on the popular crepe-like dish. The neighborhood also has a few treats for animal lovers, though. You can visit its owl cafe, and if you’re lucky enough, you just might run into this guy on the street.

 

While it’s not clear if this smooth-headed gentleman lives in the area or not, he’s been spotted multiple times out for a walk in Tsukishima accompanied by this African spurred tortoise.

 

The animal is native to the southern Sahara desert, but seems comfortable enough in the concrete jungle of downtown Tokyo.

 

As you’ve probably guessed, the laid-back pair have been getting a lot of attention online. Mixed in with all of the reactions of “LOL!” and “Cute!” is an observation from a fellow African spurred tortoise owner who remarks that the animal must have been kindly and properly cared for over many years to develop the sort of bond where it diligently follows after its master. The two were even spotted in Ginza, which is a decent-length walk even if you don’t have a reputation as one of the slowest members of the animal kingdom.

▼ Tsukishima (marked in red) and Ginza (blue)

 

 

Dog-lovers will probably point out the drawback to taking a walk with a turtle, though, in that you can’t head to the park and play fetch together. That’s true, but as these pictures show, there’s also an advantage over canines.

You don’t have to worry about hooking up a leash before you leave the house.

After all, it’s not like he’s going to suddenly dash off and outrun you when you try to catch him.

 

 

 

[Gfted1]

That's a really cool looking tortoise.

[JadedWolf]

Interesting article from Der Spiegel about the origins of the Islamic State. Seems the founders of it are a lot less interested in religion than they are in controlling people through fear.

 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html

Highly recommended reading.

[Raithe]

Guff - Consent, The Metaphor
 

 

Consent. It’s a powerful word that, for some bizarre reason, is still argued about to this day. It seems many people still don’t really get what “consent” means.

As Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess points out, it’s actually a pretty simple concept: “Whoever you are initiating sexytimes with, just make sure they are actually genuinely up for it. That’s it. It’s not hard. Really.”

 

And it shouldn’t be. But for many, it still is. Mystifying, right? So RDPP broke it down in the best way possible: with a metaphor so simple, even those who have historically had trouble grasping the concept should be able to understand it. We’ll let her do the talking:

 

If you’re still struggling, just imagine instead of initiating sex, you’re making them a cup of tea.
 
You say, “Hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they go, “OMG, f*ck yes, I would f*cking LOVE a cup of tea! Thank you!” Then you know they want a cup of tea.
If they are unconscious, don't make them tea. Unsconscious people can't answer the question, "Do you want tea?" because they are unconcious.

If you say, “Hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they um and ahh and say, “I’m not really sure…” then you can make them a cup of tea or not, but be aware that they might not drink it, and if they don’t drink it then — this is the important bit — don’t make them drink it. You can’t blame them for you going to the effort of making the tea on the off chance they wanted it; you just have to deal with them not drinking it. Just because you made it doesn’t mean you are entitled to watch them drink it.

 

If they say, “No, thank you,” then don’t make them tea. At all. Don’t make them tea, don’t make them drink tea, don’t get annoyed at them for not wanting tea. They just don’t want tea, okay?

They might say, “Yes, please, that’s kind of you,” and then when the tea arrives they actually don’t want the tea at all. Sure, that’s kind of annoying as you’ve gone to the effort of making the tea, but they remain under no obligation to drink the tea. They did want tea, now they don’t. Sometimes people change their mind in the time it takes to boil that kettle, brew the tea and add the milk. And it’s okay for people to change their mind, and you are still not entitled to watch them drink it even though you went to the trouble of making it.

 

If they are unconscious, don’t make them tea. Unconscious people don’t want tea and can’t answer the question, “Do you want tea?” because they are unconscious.
Okay, maybe they were conscious when you asked them if they wanted tea, and they said yes, but in the time it took you to boil that kettle, brew the tea and add the milk they are now unconscious. You should just put the tea down, make sure the unconscious person is safe, and — this is the important bit — don’t make them drink the tea. 

If someone said yes to tea, started drinking it and then passed out before they’d finished it, don’t keep on pouring it down their throat.

If someone said yes to tea, started drinking it and then passed out before they’d finished it, don’t keep on pouring it down their throat. Take the tea away and make sure they are safe.  Because unconscious people don’t want tea. Trust me on this.

 

If someone said “yes” to tea around your house last Saturday, that doesn’t mean that they want you to make them tea all the time. They don’t want you to come around unexpectedly to their place and make them tea and force them to drink it going, “BUT YOU WANTED TEA LAST WEEK,” or to wake up to find you pouring tea down their throat going “BUT YOU WANTED TEA LAST NIGHT.”

And that’s how you do that. The genius of this metaphor basically exposes everything — EVERYTHING! — that’s wrong with the unevolved dinosaurs who think the issue of consent is a complicated one. It’s not. It’s tea. Freakin’ brilliant.

 

Bonus? It also works on kids. Just replace tea with ice cream. Though we suppose that works for adults, too.

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by Raithe

[Nonek]

I've been bringing my wife a nice cup of tea and a slice of toast, a scone or a croissant every morning, what kind of monster am I?