Lorindól

If these daily numbers are close to correct, Ukraine’s counterartillery capability has increased dramatically in the last weeks. Even with Russias large material reserves those losses are bound to be at unsustainable levels.

I had this before my hearing was damaged in my mid-thirties. I could hear if any electrical device with large filter capasitors was turned on, even from another room. I discovered by accident that the high pitch noise was emitted by the capasitors when I was fixing old audio gear, I guess they vibrate while doing their job or something like that.

I talked about this with my friend who was specializing to be an ear/hearing doctor, his theory was that my upper hearing range was a bit higher than average. He also talked about how brains filter sensory data and it could just be that my filters weren’t blocking these frequencies.

It was also impossible for me to sleep in a room if there were any mosquitoes. The whining of their wings even in the far side of a room was maddening, so I had to kill them all every night before hitting the bed. The one good thing that came out of the damage to my hearing was that the mosquitoes bother me no more, unless they fly right in front of my ears.

Yeah, “Time Enough For Love” ended up on that list mostly because it’s so different. That made an impression on me when I read it in high school, in the way of “Huh, I guess it’s actually possible to write a book like this”. It had a lot of interesting ideas but the narrative sprawls around pretty wildly.

Riftwar Saga basically takes Tolkien’s Middle-earth setting and mixes it with our own world’s Middle age cultures, plus magical stargates and an invasion from an another world. It’s not a ripoff in any way, it carries it own story proudly but the similarities with names from Tolkien’s works was a bit distracting at first. These were the first books I was able to read entirely in original English in my early teens.

There are so many, but here are a few from the top of my head:

The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Time Enough For Love, Robert A. Heinlein.

Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein.

Don Quijote, Miguel de Cervantes.

Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri.

Dune, Frank Herbert.

Paradise Lost, John Milton.

Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke.

The Riftwar Saga, Raymond E. Feist.

Jos 1900-luvun lopun RUK-kurssin pioneerikomppanian poikia on uskominen, niin miinakarttojen tarkkuusvaatimukset olivat kyllä ainakin tuolloin aika korkeat. Sen verran kovaa kiroten ne niistä aina puhuivat.

Omassa yksikössäni henkilömiinoitteiden laskeminen käsiteltiin yhden aamupäivän aikana, mutta kyllä meillekin painotettiin kuinka “nämä kaikki sitten kerätään joskus pois, joten merkitsette määrät ja sijainnit karttaan tarkasti”. Ja sitten taisteluharjoituksessa tällä opilla pyyhittiin persettä ja käskettiin iskemään “sakarat hiekkatielle niin saatanan nopeasti kuin vaan mahdollista ja rasti karttaan jälkeenpäin.”

Joten nähtäväksi jäisi, miten tositilanteessa toimittaisiin.

Russia and Trump lied ?

Inconceivable!

I fear they won’t. They’ll just try to do the trading in the dark.

Getting cheap energy and tightening Russia’s leash for the same price is just too good deal for China to waste.

Yeah, that map shows the borders of the Soviet Union. It was the first I could find in a hurry, It’s old but helped to prove my point that their landmass east of the Ural mountains is mostly wilderness. Here’s a more up-to-date version that tells the same story:

https://www.geo-ref.net/pdf/russia.pdf

Here is a map showing where the majority of Russia’s population lives:

https://maps-russia.com/maps-russia-geography/russia-population-density-map

The largest part of Russia is the vast Siberia, which is basically just endless forests, mountains and arctic tundra with few cities here and there - and the winters can be extreme. If not for the rich resources and the jobs that extraction of those resources creates, not many would choose to live there.

And it has Derek Smalls in the backgroung waiting for his turn.

Absolutely brilliant.

Trump negotiating wirh Putin is like a clueless kindergartener playing chess with national master.

They’re going to force Ukraine to give up on Krim and the eastern occupied terrritories, but Ukraine gets back some strictly defined areas where rare earth metals can be exploited.

Trump will consider this as an absolute victory and in the near future Europe will pay the heavy price if Russian aggression is rewarded this way.

Are you familiar with the Russian prison system? I am not certain if a life sentence there qualifies as “living”, except that you’re still breathing.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prison-system-interview-olga-romanova/32614416.html

When TOS aired the first time in my country, I was 9-10 years old. I found it mind-blowingly good compared to other shows at the time. I had learned to read when I was 4 and I read a LOT. And not just books for children, I also read classics and nonfiction natural science as much as I could.

I was a strange kid, but all my reading had made me ready to understand the social commentaries in TOS and the fictional scenarios really opened the concepts up for me. I often went to the library to research stuff that was explored in the latest episode to make sure I had understood everything.

My son is 13 now, we started to watch the TOS DVD-set together and he loves it. Although he is older than I was, he is not an avid reader like me. He needs many of the concepts explained and subtle guidance to understand the underlying larger themes, but he has shown advancement and after every episode we have a small discussion. I love teaching him this way.

We just finished season 1 and my son noted: “Athough this show is ancient, this stuff is still relevant and happening even today, isn’t it?”

True.

I think I’ve reached the age where finding out I’ve been wrong about something isn’t all that bad. Accept and examine the presented facts and you just learn something new. And there’s no shame in that.

Yep, after comparing both images more closely I am now certain that I was wrong. The structural dissimilarities are simply too great, even for a heavily modified model.

This is a good reminder for me to keep my facts straight before I start claiming truths online, based on just memories from quarter a century ago ;)

Thank you for kindly showing me my mistake!

I did my service in the late 90’s and a gun just like on the picture above was on display at the gun exhibit at the RUK main hall. It was of course heavily modified according to the wishes of the buyer, but built upon the basic RK-95 frame.

Here’s a link that somewhat matches my memories:

https://metsastysjakalastus.fi/sakon-aseaarteet-sako-rk-95-762x39-kultainen-ase/

EDIT:

It is completely possible I am wrong. There are bound to be a large number of gilded AK-variants in the arab courts, everyone probably wanted their own after the first one got them. The picture does match my memory, but it was a long time ago…

That is a gilded SAKO RK-95.

I saw one on display in the late 90’s, they were a special batch ordered by the Royal Guard of the Arab Emirates or Quatar, if memory serves correctly. The image does not give away how mindblowingly cool it was in real world.

EDIT:

I was mistaken. It is not RK-95 but some other AK variant, as OP clearly points out in the comments.

Orpon ja EK:n haluttomuus/kyvyttömyys pitää Purran laumaa kurissa on sysännyt tämän maan hyvin vaaralliselle tielle.

Valtiovarainministeri julkaisee saksikuvia hymy huulillaan kun sosiaaliturvasta leikataan rankasti.

Oikeusministeri kertoi Oulun viimeisten puukotusten jälkeen tahtovansa antaa poliisille valtuudet tarkastaa kenen tahansa laukut ja taskut milloin vain “varmuuden varalta”.

Elinkeinoministeri on mitä ilmeisimmin hyvin nuorista naisista/tytöistä kiinnostunut saalistaja, joka jatkaa surutta ja ylpeänä hyökkäyksiään hänen toimintaansa kommentoinutta mediaa kohtaan. Hallituspuolueet antoivat kuitenkin (lähes) täyden tukensa tälle pikku veijarille eduskunnan luottamusäänestyksessä. Ministeri Ilkka Kanerva erosi aikanaan omatoimisesti, kun jäi kiinni läheteltyään tekstiviestejä stripparille ja yriteltyään peitellä asiaa valehtelemalla. Nykymenon valossa ei voi kuin ihailla Kanervan selkärankaa.

Kansanedustaja Mäkelä ulisee mediassa siitä, että oikeustieteen emeritusprofessori kehtaa nostaa haastattelussa esille syvän huolensa perustuslakivaliokunnan politisoitumisesta ja oikeusvaltioperiaatteen murenemisesta.

Jos joku olisi 10 vuotta sitten väittänyt, että mikään edellämainituista olisi ollut hyväksyttävää tai edes siedettävää toimintaa kansanedustajalta tai ministeriltä, hänet olisi naurettu ulos keskustelusta samantien.

Mutta tällä mennään, kun kansa ei vaan tiedä.

According to Wikipedia, one S-500 system has a ~ $2.5 billion price tag and it still is unable to protect itself ;)

Destroying one with nearly any ordnance available will give you the best bang for a buck one can possibly get. The murderous thieves may find it very hard to replace these with the sanctions up, which is nice.

This is without a doubt the best cover version of “Paranoid” I have ever heard.