Do you disagree?

Samsung Galaxy Note 7, but it's every smartphone and is in charge of the big red button to blow them up if you say something wrong on twitter

Maybe the last season of the Boondocks wasn't so unrealistic after all

::: spoiler spoiler Uncle Ruckus becomes a Republican governor if I remember correctly :::

Yeah but if you want to use the Ukraine war analogy, Hezbollah is not in the position of Russia, who have air supremacy and are the invading force. Hezbollah would be in a more similar position to Ukraine, with little to no air cover and defending their own territory. Hezbollah will not be able to use a similar strategy to Russia because they do not have the same capabilities as Russia.

I think people in general just got more feral post COVID. It's as if people forgot how to exist in public.

Unfortunately, this kind of stuff is normal among kids at that age. Not washing their hands after using the bathroom, snot everywhere, etc. Pre teens can be vile with their lack of hygiene.

After deciding watch the US presidential debate for some godforsaken reason, I can see why. Trump did his usual nonsense, making up racist myths about immigrants, but people know what to expect from him, he's been doing this for close to a decade now, no surprises there. You know what you're getting with Trump. Harris had the opportunity to leave an impression, and she just didn't. She bombed hard, tried to enter a mudslinging contest with Trump over who is more racist and xenophobic making up her own racist myths about immigrants and Palestinians, and sounded detached from reality, especially on Ukraine, claiming that Russia would invade Poland next, in contrast to Trump's more "pro peace" solution. Harris' only solid win was on abortion, and one has to ask if that's enough to win an election.

I'll say it again: historically dems have needed the black vote to win and kid killer kamala doesn't have it.

That's what happens when they nominate someone who made a career out of prosecuting black people in "California's top cop" Harris.

Last time this happened during the Hezbollah rocket attack against Israel a few weeks ago, the Israeli Air Force apparently had over 100 fighter planes in Lebanese airspace. Hezbollah desperately needs more advanced air defence systems.

I think it's why the Israelis detected the missile so late when it was launched against them, and several interceptor missiles failed to hit their targets. Imagine for a second, if this missile had a nuclear warhead, what kind of capabilities that would give Iran.

It's called the Samson option as far as I know.

The "retaliation" from Iran will probably be acquiring advanced technology from Russia that they do not have a domestic equivalent for, like S400 air defence systems, Su-35 fighter jets, or assistance with nuclear weapons technology. That's been my guess for a while now. This, in combination with more extensive collaboration with the Yemeni Armed Forces with more advanced weaponry, which has already started with the Palestine-2 missile in my opinion. This is going to be bigger than another retaliatory strike by Iran. It's about changing the balance of power long term. Working with Yemen on missile technology described here in this white paper PDF is a big deal. Just some excerpts worth taking note of:

• Launch detection by US spaceborne assets – no change versus similar ballistic missile. However, those sensors cannot provide impact point prediction anymore.
• Throughout all the flight phases, up to the impact, there is no way to predict impact point. Moreover, during the initial sustainer burn the final impact point deviations might exceed 100’s of Km. (each delta speed of 1 m/s is equivalent to about 1 Km deviation). The Iranian videos show sets of 3D maneuvers during this phase. This Iranian design might negate some western ballistic missile defense selective engagement strategies.

In short, the missile can manoeuvre and change course in certain stages of flight, there is no way to predict the target after the launch (which was previously possible with previous ballistic missiles).

Some assess that the “Fattah” missile will use a depressed trajectory, so it will limit ground radars and Electrical-Optical (EO) sensors range due to Line of Sight (LOS) geometry.
• High Radar Cross Section (RCS) and EO/Infrared(IR) signature due to the unique configuration, sustainer rocket and heat load.
• Various tracking and Track While Scan (TWS) algorithms might require adaptation to this non-ballistic behavior.
• Pull up maneuver phase – as the Re-entry Vehicle (RV) altitude might reach up to about 15 Km. most sensors (which are not close to the missile this point) might lose LOS to the RV target.
• Pull down maneuver – potential high g maneuvers might challenge tracking elements.

Basically the missiles depressed trajectory and pull up phase takes advantage of the earth's curvature so that ground radars cannot get a line of sight on the missile

That and Bluetooth headpieces got mocked endlessly during the 2000s. Now everyone is wearing some kind of airpod style earbud with a buit in mic and Snapchating all kinds of pictures.

Ahhh yes back in the 2000s. They also advertised all the weird hotline numbers during the late night advert slots.

That difference between Biden-Trump and Trump-Harris is crazy though.

Israeli military rigged pagers sent to Hezbollah/Lebanese government officials and military with explosives and blew them up. Exact casualty figures are unclear, but it is estimated nearly 3000 people were injured, 200 of those critically, and 8 have died so far.

A large long range attack has been carried out against Russia with what appears to be jet powered Ukrainian drones, against the Russian Toropets Military Base/weapons storage system. This led to a runaway explosion of all the ammunition and military equipment stored there, the explosion was so powerful that it registered 2.8 on the Richter scale, and the resulting fires and smoke were visible from satellites in space. Video of the explosion. It seems as if the "state of the art" military base was not state of the art at all in it's blast protection systems, and corruption likely played a role in the base not being up to standard. The General that was in charge of the project, ex Deputy Minister of Defense General Dmitry Bulgakov, was arrested on corruption charges this year in July. He was reported to have embezzled over 400 million rubles during the execution of state contracts. So it looks like he just took the money and ran, instead of building a proper weapons and ammunition storage facility.

Dmitry Bulgakov will also be checked for involvement in actions related to the embezzlement of 400 million rubles in the execution of state contracts of Voentorg. On August 1, the head of the JSC "Voentorg" and the beneficiary of the controlled organisations were detained in the case of embezzlement of a particularly large amount of money during the conclusion of state contracts. It was Bulgakov who was in charge of the logistics of the Russian Armed Forces during the period when these embezzlements were committed.

Bulgakov on the Toropets military base in 2018:

According to the deputy defence minister, the implementation of the arsenal construction programme will make it possible to shelter ammunition in concrete and fast-erecting storage facilities of new construction. It will also help eliminate overloading at the existing storage facilities.

Bulgakov added that it will be possible to minimise the possibility of terrorist attacks on the territory of the arsenal and improve the environmental situation in the storage area.

It's not that people don't believe men when they come forward, it's that people believe it's physically impossible for such an act to happen to a man and that it's impossible for men to be victims, because men "always want it". It's a different struggle to what women face. It's not harder or easier, it's different, because traditional/patriarchical gender roles are different between men and women. Anyone trying to make a "competition" out of this, or say that women have it easier, is sick in the head as you said.

I think they the accusation is that they took funding from RT

and even a brief but fierce moment where dar le VR/AR was the revolutionary hotness.

The fact that we've gone through multiple phases of this in the last decade is extraordinary. First it was Oculus, then Google cardboard/daydream, then Oculus gain, then the Meta quest headsets, and finally Apple vision pro. Everytime it comes up, people are sure that this time VR will go mainstream! Maybe it's time to accept that as social creatures, humans do not want to live with a headset strapped to their face 24/7. Hell, even when we had to cover our faces for a good cause and public benefit, like masking for a pandemic, people invented the most juvenile of excuses to not wear a mask.

Ahh the idealistic idea that change/adjustment/progress is both inevitable and always positive. You're going to hate me for this, but Samir Amin had something to say about that too.

The fact that these adjustments can be positive or negative argues in favor of an interpretation of historical materialism based on the concept of "under-determination." I mean by this that each of the various levels of reality (economic, political, ideological) contains its own internal logic, and because of this the complementary nature of their evolution, which is necessary to ensure the overall coherence of a system, does not define in advance a given direction for a particular evolution.

Going to drop another Samir Amin quote about that phrase in particular.

Nevertheless, another reading can be made of Marx. The often cited phrase--"religion is the opium of the people"--is truncated. What follows this remark lets it be understood that human beings need opium, because they are metaphysical animals who cannot avoid asking themselves questions about the meaning of life. They give what answers they can, either adopting those offered by religion or inventing new ones, or else they avoid worrying about them.

In any case, religions are part of the picture of reality and even constitute an important dimension of it. It is, therefore, important to analyze their social function, and in our modern world their articulation with what currendy constitutes modernity: capitalism, democracy, and secularism.

Techbros and bazinga defeatists are "firmly in the "inventing new ones" category. Even in your example, they are acting as if the new technology is some all powerful, inevitable, unstoppable force from above so they may as well worship it cheer on this technological progress. They have essentially in a way, reinvented the concept of God.

That's the thing, by religion losing it's place as the arbitrator of certain social norms and by being able to believe in modern Christianity while not having to accept nonsense beliefs (like the world being created in 7 days and being 6000 years old, denying the existence of evolution, extreme homophobia and sexism, being able to wear a "satanic" outfit without being excommunicated from Christianity like Musk did here) belief in religion, paticularly this new kind of Christianity can actually be reinforced.

The quote even checks out in my personal experience. I'm a closeted bisexual, and the church being homophobic and forcing that belief on us was a big reason I left the church and became an atheist as a teenager. The other big part was the denial of science. I couldn't accept that nonsense from them. However, I am meeting LGBT people a few years younger than me who are religious and still go to church, as it's a more accepting environment for them at the particular churches they attend. Thinking back, if I had gone to a more accepting church as a child, a church that accepted the scientific reality of evolution, the big bang, etc and was accepting of LGBT people, would I be an atheist today? Honestly, probably not, I probably would've stayed a Christian.

Secularism is the direct consequence of this new autonomy of civil society, for entire areas of social life are, henceforth, conceivable independendy of one another. The need to satisfy metaphysical yearnings is left to individual conscience, and religion loses its status as a force of formal constraint. Contrary to a widespread Eurocentric preconception, however, secularism is not peculiar to Christian society, which demanded its liberation from the heavy yoke of the church. Nor is it the result of the conflict between the "national" state and a church with a universal vocation. For during the Reformation, the church is in fact "national" in its various forms--Anglican, Lutheran, and so forth. Nevertheless, the new fusion of church and state does not produce a new theocracy, but rather, one might say, a religious secularism. Secularism, even though the reactionary ecclesiastical forces fought it, did not root out belief. It even, perhaps, reinforced it in the long run, by freeing it of its formalist and mythological straightjackets. Christians of our time, whether or not they are intellectuals, have no problem accepting that humankind descended from apes and not from Adam and Eve.

• Samir Amin, Eurocentrism, The Decline of Metaphysics and the Reinterpretation of Religion.

I'd say more of a NAFO guy than blue Maga.

I don't think that's entirely correct though. The guy voted for Trump in 2016, said he regretted it and that someone should assassinate him, and had a Biden/Harris sticker on his vehicle. On top of that he was extremely pro Ukraine and tried to recruit soldiers for the Ukrainian foreign legion. He described himself as a "political independent". The one politician he really seemed to like was John Kerry...

I don't think I've ever pre ordered a game in my life, and I've been playing video games since I was 9 years old. I've bought a few special editions yes, but no pre orders. Only bought two games on release day as a teenager.

I mean, he publicly wrote about his intention to assassinate high level government officials across the world, and tried to smuggle people to various armies to fight as soldiers. It would be more surprising if he wasn't on a list.

To be honest, I just hate how expensive gaming has become across the board. I still remember getting a brand new, top of the line, Playstation 3 slim with a 500GB internal hard drive and Blu ray drive, two controllers and two games, in 2012 (over 12 years ago) for around 450 USD, with import taxes and luxury taxes in South Africa. Now the lastest top of the line PlayStation 5 is going to cost over 1150USD here, with the disc drive being an optional add on, and only 2TB of storage and one controller. WTF how is a 250% price increase justifiable when you are literally getting less by comparison?

And I haven't even started on the price of PC parts here, PC gaming rigs are the price of second hand cars in South Africa. A Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 with 8GB of VRAM is over 500USD! A 14th Gen Intel i5 is over 350USD. Two new mid range components, and the price is already approaching 900USD. By the time you're done buying everything, you're looking at over 2000USD for that PC.

::: spoiler Speculation on Yemeni and Iranian ballistic missile technology with regards to the new Palestine-2 missile, used in yesterday's strike on Israel After looking at the footage released of the missile used by Ansar Allah/The Houthis to strike Israel yesterday, I have come to an unlikely conclusion: They and Iran have collaborated to create an extended range version of the two stage Iranian Fattah-1 hypersonic ballistic missile and re-entry vehicle, in combination with parts from the Iranian Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile and re-entry vehicle. A far fetched conclusion that I didn't believe at first given how new the Fattah-1 missile is and given statements from Iran, but one I view to be the most likely based on the size and shape of the missile, and statements from both sides.

According to Yemeni State Media, the Palestine-2 missile:

with a range of up to 2,150 km, operates on two-stage solid fuel, incorporates stealth technology, and can reach speeds of up to Mach 16. This makes it capable of evading the most advanced air defense systems, including the Iron Dome. The missile has a high maneuverability, enhancing its effectiveness in penetrating enemy air defenses.

This rules out all liquid fueled rockets. It also mandates a two stage design, along with a maneuverable warhead and depressed trajectory for stealth. The only place for a seperate stage, given that there are no visible separations or jettison points in the booster stage itself, is the warhead itself.

Experts in Western Media have claimed that the Palestine-2 is a variant of the Kheibar Shekan missile, a statement which is half right. The initial booster stage, along with the rear and front fins are likely from the Kheibar Shekan series of missiles.

However, the warhead of the Kheibar Shekan is different from the one pictured on the Palestine-2, in function. The Kheibar Shekan warhead/re entry vehicle does not have its own rocket stage, so it is not a two stage rocket system. Once it is jettisoned from the booster rocket, it can manoeuvre on its own to avoid interception, but it has no power of its own, meaning it only impacts the target at a speed of Mach 2-3. In appearance, only the fins are the same. By contrast, the Fattah-1 warhead contains its own rocket stage, something that would be required for the Palestine-2 to be a two staged rocket system. From a visual standpoint

Palestine-2 warhead:

Comparison between Fattah-1 and Kheibar Shekan:

Fattah-1 second stage motor:

As for the range, Iran has reported in the past that they would be able to extend the range of the Fattah-1 to 2000km. Could the Palestine-2 be the end result of such efforts? I'd guess so.

As for how the Fattah-1 works, I came across this white paper PDF by the "Missile Defence Advocacy alliance that explains how it functions. In short, is the Fattah-1 a true hypersonic weapon? My answer is that it is as close as you can yet using ballistic missile technology and without using a lift generating re-entry vehicle/hypersonic glide vehicle, which the successor Fattah-2 aims to do. Ultimately agility while in the terminal phase is limited by the four fins and limited thrust vectoring on the second stage, in short it can probably dodge a bit, but it can't do a full turn. Most of the maneuvering probably takes place before the final dive to the target. However, the additional rocket stage on the re-entry vehicle/warhead allows for manoeuvres and a trajectory that would not otherwise be possible with a ballistic missile, explained here.

This could explain the stealth capabilities of the missile, and why Israel detected it so late. The depressed trajectory, as well as relatively low altitude during the "pull up phase", means that ground radars cannot detect the initial launch and would lose track of the warhead during the pull up phase due to the earth's curvature. However, there will be a large heat signature due to the second rocket stage. :::

Not really, it's "just" a ballistic missile that reaches a hypersonic velocity at some point in its flight, likely in the terminal phase.

Russia did get a "true" hypersonic weapon before the US though, in the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile.

From visual inspection and the statement from Ansar Allah, this appears to be the combination of two different Iranian ballistic missile designs. Quite ingenious. I'll post further analysis in the news megathread and link it here shortly.

I don't know, I've seen memes like that, but expressed differently. Most men don't like to express anything resembling vulnerability or desperation publicly. So the meme is structured differently.

::: spoiler Ace Combat Zero spoilers Ace Combat Zero went a bit deeper into it, the game is basically: "WW2, but it ends the cold war instead of starting it, and Nazi Germany has nukes and nukes itself to prevent a land invasion. Also the USA borders Europe and the USSR is an ocean away in this universe ". It was an interesting thought experiment from a story perspective. :::

Not just any old video, a BlackRock commercial I think lmao.

Yeah the previous assassin was hard to really vilify. He was a shut in gen Z kid with no online footprint, that tried to headshot the former president while wearing a gun YouTuber's merchandise. An absurd situation, but a hard character for conservative media to make a narrative about. Also he died during the shooting.

The second assassin as you said is a walking stereotype, with a worldview brainwashed by the US liberal media, that wrote a near 300 page book about the war in Ukraine, assassinating world leaders and nuking Russia. Who spent his free time trying to recruit soldiers for the Ukrainian foreign legion and even went to Ukraine. He also survived and had a large online footprint. He's a character that's super easy for conservative media to write stories about, and every court appearance presents a new opportunity to do so.

It is not clear how the Houthis may have developed or acquired the missiles.

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said his country had not sent hypersonic missiles to the Yemeni group.

“We don't have such missiles to provide to Yemen," Pezeshkian said in a televised speech. But Iran last year showcased what it described as the country’s first Iranian-made hypersonic ballistic missile named "Fattah"

This is all to do with the terminology around hypersonic weapons. When Iran says that they don't have "true" hypersonic weapons that can manoeuvre at hypersonic speeds, that is correct as Fattah 1 and 2 are still in development and have only been showcased at events. Russia is the only country that has used "true" hypersonic weapons on the battlefield with regards to the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile.

However, quite a few ballistic missiles have a hypersonic velocity in the terminal phase, and are referred to as hypersonic weapons by some, even though they are not "true" hypersonic weapons. The Russian Kinzhal is one such a weapon, an air launched ballistic missile that travels at hypersonic speeds. Both Iran and Yemen have these weapons and have deployed and used them throughout this conflict.

As for the development of these hypersonic ballistic weapons, many of Yemen's missiles share visual similarities with their Iranian counterparts, suggesting technical collaboration.

See my previous comments on this here and here

A helpful graphic to try understand the differences between different missile types

I know of a guy who tried this in high school so he could grow try grow a beard and try sneak into night clubs. Based on the results, I wouldn't recommend it, he ended up with a bunch of fuzzy baby hairs all over his face.

You can watch the videos yourself, this guy tried to heavily involve himself in the Ukraine conflict and recruit soldiers for the foreign legion. CNN is even reporting on it.