Political Discussion Thread (READ FIRST POST)

[mlooney 3,417]

14 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

So where does the myth come from?

It was if "lightning" sand exists, ala adventure movies.  They found this to be busted.

 

9 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

HEY!!! What the hell is all this hard science doing in my politics thread?

Have you not paid attention to modern events?  Doing science is political most of the time.

[Don Edwards 548]

13 hours ago, ijuin said:

Probably from people who had heard about quicksand but never experienced it imagining themselves being swallowed up by it.

Well, if you're embedded in sand up to mid-stomach, you'll find it difficult to either escape from a large predator or fight it off. So if one shows up, there's a good chance you'll disappear.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

HEY!!! What the hell is all this hard science doing in my politics thread?

Republicans say science is bad?

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 4/2/2022 at 9:06 AM, mlooney said:

It was if "lightning" sand exists, ala adventure movies.  They found this to be busted.

My guess is lightning fusing sand is an event that has relatively rare preconditions that are not well understood, and that without considerable research, an adequate test could not be performed. The amount of energy needed is seems to be present, it's just a question of applying it to fusing the sand. It might need certain chemical components to be present. It almost certainly has a critical range of moisture, affecting conductivity. Too much or too little are both likely going to cause it to fail. I'm going to bet against Myth Busters on this one.

The nice thing is, I just need one to prove them wrong. They can't actually prove a negative, that it never happens, so, out of luck.

On 4/2/2022 at 9:06 AM, mlooney said:

Have you not paid attention to modern events?  Doing science is political most of the time.

Politicized. The science per se doesn't really give a crap. It is what it is.

It's like building a tall building without a thirteenth Floor. there is actually a thirteenth floor if you count them in order. By convention, you choose not to see it that way.

On 4/2/2022 at 10:24 AM, Don Edwards said:

Well, if you're embedded in sand up to mid-stomach, you'll find it difficult to either escape from a large predator or fight it off. So if one shows up, there's a good chance you'll disappear.

This is true, but not the way you might expect. Predator leaps an lands on you . The combined you-predator system has a higher center of gravity. Two things happen, you immediately sink deeper, but you also fall over and dunk the predator into the quicksand. Soon, you are no longer the predator's primary concern, and you are no longer a two part system, rather two independent mired beings. The predator probably tries climbing on you again, which doesn't work, but lacerates you and may dunk your nostrils. The noise likely attracts more predators. So, you have you and a thrashing predator party. 

At least the predators' bloodline gets smarter as the chumps eliminate themselves. But you're right, you're probably not getting out of this one.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

The Moderator: Jokes aside, this has gone WAY off the thread's topic. If you want to continue this, please start a new thread.

[mlooney 3,417]

Looks like the Moskva has sunk.  Ukraine says by missiles, Russia says by crew being dumb [redacted].  Not sure which is better for Russia, but I think it was missile strike.

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1514694135004999689

 

[mlooney 3,417]

Cope cages. Not just for tanks!

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 4/6/2022 at 3:53 AM, The Old Hack said:

The Moderator: Jokes aside, this has gone WAY off the thread's topic. If you want to continue this, please start a new thread.

I have to say, this is a first for me, being warned about not being political enough.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Cope cages. Not just for tanks!

 

Hmm, sixteen missile launchers. Nice to take those out of action. Is it odd that I hope the sailors are OK?

[mlooney 3,417]

The VDV are the Russian airborne forces.  They have done less than well in the current war.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

They are doing so bad that it seems surreal. Could it be that stuffing positions of leadership with your less than competent sycophant cronies has a downside?

 

[mlooney 3,417]

They are up to 8 generals and an admiral KIA.  Plus, of course, starting a purge of the intelligence services.  Seems that stealing money from the government, claiming you have Russian serving underground groups in the Ukraine, when you don't have any, is a bad idea.  The leader of the FSO (Russian version of the CIA) had a "heart attack".  Didn't kill him, but yeah, suspect at best.

[mlooney 3,417]

Even if StarLink had an effect on the Moskva's sinking how does he expect to be able to do this?  There are too many for "traditional" anti-satellites weapons to take them out.  Short of nuke EMP in orbit there isn't much Russia can do.  And an orbital EMP strike will do more than take out StarLink.

https://twitter.com/robert_zubrin/status/1515303058158235650?s=21

[Darth Fluffy 302]

3 hours ago, mlooney said:

Even if StarLink had an effect on the Moskva's sinking how does he expect to be able to do this?  There are too many for "traditional" anti-satellites weapons to take them out.  Short of nuke EMP in orbit there isn't much Russia can do.  And an orbital EMP strike will do more than take out StarLink.

https://twitter.com/robert_zubrin/status/1515303058158235650?s=21

Oh, yes, escalating a war you're already loosing, great idea!

What do you do for an encore? Oh, wait, you're not going to have to worry about that, are you?

Da, da, da, Putin on the fritz!

[mlooney 3,417]

I'm not sure what the Article 5 repercussion would be for Russia attacking a US company's stuff, vs attacking US government stuff. Attacking StarLink may or may not be a Very Bad Thing, depending on how the NATO council swings.  NATO has already said that a cyber attack could trigger Article 5, so attacking internet satellites might be a trigger even if privately owned.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

I'm not sure what the Article 5 repercussion would be for Russia attacking a US company's stuff, vs attacking US government stuff. Attacking StarLink may or may not be a Very Bad Thing, depending on how the NATO council swings.  NATO has already said that a cyber attack could trigger Article 5, so attacking internet satellites might be a trigger even if privately owned.

Putin, I hesitate to say Russia, because a surge of Russians are leaving in protest, has little wiggle room left. An attack on foreign assets is an attack on foreign assets. A HEMP burst would surely affect Europe (and, to a lesser degree Russia itself). They are already targeting foreign nationals, claiming they will execute any they find fighting for the Ukrainians.

If they are stalled by Ukraine, how well do you suppose they would fare against NATO? Finland and Sweden may join NATO, and Putin is upset? Give me a break, NATO or not, both nations already have decades of reasons to be against Russia. Even non-NATO, they would side with and support NATO. As would the Swiss.

This could easily escalate into a global exchange of a very bad sort, especially if Putin looses face and fears his own oligarchs. That would not go well for anyone, no one's a winner, but Russia would not come out well. I doubt they could feed themselves in the aftermath. I'm pretty sure that would be the end of their ability to conduct conventional warfare. Everyone else cones out bloodied, beaten, but viable. And everybody hates Russia even more so.

Right about now, someone else in Russia should be seeing the handwriting on the wall and be considering conducting a regime change. I doubt that he has much of an inner circle left.

Good news, though, if we have a nuclear exchange, it is likely that we will no longer have a Tucker Carlson.

Stock up on those canned goods, it might be a long winter.

[mlooney 3,417]

11 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Stock up on those canned goods, it might be a long winter.

I need to get some shelf stable foods that don't require heat to be made edible.

[mlooney 3,417]

Not sure where this comes from, but it's in line with what I've heard so far.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

8 hours ago, mlooney said:

Not sure where this comes from, but it's in line with what I've heard so far.

That is a bit confusing on the first pass. If I'm reading it correctly, Captain (1st Rank) and Captain (2nd Rank) are naval ranks. Just like ours, 'Captain' means something very different in the Navy vs the Army. It appears they have a fair idea of head count for army officers take out of action, but much less so Navy; to be fair, this is not much of a naval war, and those bodies lost at sea are much harder to tally. Odd that they've captured five Lieutenant Colonels, but only four Lieutenants, seems top heavy. This must have something to do with the reporting methodology.

I'd need a guide to understand Dishonorable Mentions. So, per Google:

I don't know who the warlord is. Ah, Sparta Battalion, described as Neo-Nazi, is a Russian Separatist military unit from Donetsk, a breakaway region of Ukraine. Vladimir Zhoga, a leader, was killed.

Chechen General Tushayev may or may not be dead. Claim to fame is he oppressed LGBQ personnel.

Shoigu had a massive heart attack, speculation is it was an assassination attempt.

Lukashenko, showing a senior lieutenant rank, must refer to Nikolai Lukashenko, son of Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, first an only president of Belarus since 1994. Going to guess Putin made a promise to the family to solicit their loyalty. His rank picture is an oddly lighter shade.

Awards must be attempting to show award inflation. It is plausible that even in loosing, people were heroic, but that is a lot of awards for a short time frame, and as stated, they are loosing, seems like these are detached from reality. I don't really know, and I suppose don't really care.

This is basically a Vietnam for them.

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

This is basically a Vietnam for them.

Not really.  They have lost more generals and senior officers  in the last 50 some odd days than the US did in the whole of the Vietnam war.  It's really unprecedented as to the lose of senior officers, not really matched by any thing since WWII, and maybe not even then.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

38 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Not really.  They have lost more generals and senior officers  in the last 50 some odd days than the US did in the whole of the Vietnam war.  It's really unprecedented as to the lose of senior officers, not really matched by any thing since WWII, and maybe not even then.

I wonder if anything equivalent to the infamous practice of fragging is going on?

[mlooney 3,417]

15 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

I wonder if anything equivalent to the infamous practice of fragging is going on?

There was a case where a battalion commander was run over by an AFV when he wanted to make another head on attack.  He didn't die, but lost both legs.

[mlooney 3,417]

[mlooney 3,417]

Bayraktar-chan

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Movie scene is from The Hunt For Red October, right?