Interesting stuff
Haha Zen! It could be me murmuring something like "Grr cyclist arseholes, you make me uncomfortable!" on the way out to 13th
& yes Supa you can use browsers, add block extensions etc etc - that doesn't help Ben & Stu & Craig & team make money tho...
a further update on the missing submersible: safety concerns led to sacking of senior staff member:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/whistleblower-raised-safety-concerns-ocea...
I went back to review Bob Ballard's discovery of the Titanic wreck in 1986 given it was amazing news to hear back then, and that I was given a book about it. I discovered who funded the trip! Wow. The things they don't say at the time, from the wiki page:
"In summer 1985, Ballard was aboard the French research ship Le Suroît, which was using the side scan sonar SAR to search for the Titanic's wreck. When the French ship was recalled, he transferred onto a ship from Woods Hole, the R/V Knorr. Unbeknownst to some, this trip was financed by the U.S. Navy for secret reconnaissance of the wreckage of two Navy nuclear powered attack submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, which sank in the 1960s, and not for the Titanic.[10] Back in 1982, he approached the Navy about his new deep sea underwater robot craft, the Argo, and his search for the Titanic.[11] The Navy was not interested in financing it. However, they were interested in finding out what happened to their missing submarines and ultimately concluded that Argo was their best chance to do so.[11] The Navy agreed it would finance his Titanic search only if he first searched for and investigated the two sunken submarines,[11] and found out the state of their nuclear reactors after being submerged for such a long time,[11] and whether their radioactivity was impacting the environment.[11] He was placed on temporary active duty in the Navy, in charge of finding and investigating the wrecks. After the two missions were completed, time and funding permitting, he was free to use resources to hunt for the Titanic.[11]"
It seems there were differences of opinion on the fit-for-purposeness of the craft. It's too early to say and I hope the people are alive.
For contrast, here's ALVIN, the submersible that Bob Ballard used to go down to the wreck: built in 1964, it looks like a proper piece of kit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Alvin
"The submersible has made more than 5,000 dives, carrying two scientists and a pilot, to observe the lifeforms that must cope with super-pressures and move about in total darkness, as well as exploring the wreck of Titanic. Research conducted by Alvin has been featured in nearly 2,000 scientific papers."
Even has a titanium pressure hull detachment option in case of being trapped:
"Alvin was designed as a replacement for bathyscaphes and other less maneuverable oceanographic vehicles. Its more nimble design was made possible in part by the development of syntactic foam, which is buoyant and yet strong enough to serve as a structural material at great depths.
The vessel weighs 17 tons. It allows for two scientists and one pilot to dive for up to nine hours at 4,500 meters (14,800 ft). The submersible features two robotic arms and can be fitted with mission-specific sampling and experimental gear. The plug hatch of the vessel is 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in) in diameter and somewhat thicker than the 2-inch (51 mm) thick titanium sphere pressure hull;[1] it is held in place by the pressure of the water above it.
In an emergency, if Alvin were stuck underwater with occupants inside, the outer body, or cladding, of the submersible could be released and discarded using controls inside the hull. The titanium sphere would then rise to the surface uncontrolled."
velocityjohnno wrote:I've noticed things I say around my phone come up as ads on websites on the computer later so yeah. Most disconcerting recently was an add for a type of cycling underpant that has shiny padding to protect the protecty bits in a bright orange, so you look like you are wearing a baboon's arse... I did not ask for that or cycling in any manner.... hmm
Groundswell...After mentions of kissing Ladyboys . Growing Hydro and Rimming in front of one way Mirrors in Indonesia
Hows your Ads ?
velocityjohnno wrote:I've noticed things I say around my phone come up as ads on websites on the computer later so yeah. Most disconcerting recently was an add for a type of cycling underpant that has shiny padding to protect the protecty bits in a bright orange, so you look like you are wearing a baboon's arse... I did not ask for that or cycling in any manner.... hmm
I don't have a smart phone but had a similar thing happen. I got bursitis last year and was talking about it with my brother on my dumb phone sitting in front of my PC and then my you tube algorithm started giving me videos about bursitis. Never done a search on the subject, never looked at anything to do with it on my PC. Freaked me out. My PC is spying on me.
The Purism company makes a laptop with proprietary software and hardware (disabling certain parts of the processor iirc) with physical kill switches for the camera and mic - you can run on their OS or on a Linux based one. Made in US, long wait for an order last time I looked:
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-14/
I doubt you'd get too many ads/cookies running that and having a heavily extensioned Firefox for eg (do not track, ad block plus, ghostery, social media blockers, or whatever is better now + more anonymous browser + tor or VPN if you are paranoid). They do a phone too, with these privacy features. I'm not a customer but wouldn't mind trying as the philosophy of the company is in the right place... Hard bit here is all the specialist software which seems to require Windows and you'd have to jig around with emulators...
titanic submersible imploded
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/22/titanic-submarine-...
Bit Soon...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility
Novel written in 1898 had uncanny parallels with the size, speed and unsinkable nature of it's lead ship, named 'Titan'. And also with hitting an iceberg and sinking in the North Atlantic. This presages the actual event by 14 years. (And the name matches the sadly lost submersible.)
Author Robertson apparently credited having an 'astral writing partner'... perhaps helping with plot with a view from above of our space-time?
Russia’s sure having an interesting time right now.
Russia: "The Ministry of Defence has lost control over a number of units and formations of the Southern Military District, it will not be possible to organize the defense by the RosGvradia and the FSB. The local leaders are extremely careful in their statements." That's Rostov. pic.twitter.com/FaE5awjFFa
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) June 23, 2023
Coup? Uprising? Is that Prigozhin and Wagner?
Yup.
This is going to make things interesting in Ukraine, given Wagner's role.
Going thru multiple twitter & telegram sources, seems legit. Is his play just for the heads of the Russian defence dept or is it for the whole of govt? It seems FSB is out issuing arrest orders for him.
Is the wording that the top generals misled Putin into the invasion, they should go, and thus Prigozhin would fix things and Putin would be OK? That's just me riffing... would it imply Russia would stop in Ukraine? Doesn't sound so, so far.
Given their only recent successes appear to be down to Wagner forces, it doesn't bode well for them if they have to shut him down.
aviation geeks getting suss on a particular plane flight
LUKASHENKO 🇧🇾ESCAPING?
— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) June 23, 2023
Business jet of Belarussian Dictator Lukashenko's family took off from Minsk at 00:01.
- Belarusian opposition media pic.twitter.com/7tm1EAWJex
take with huge grain of salt, but you never know
Prigozhin’s war of words with Shoigu and Gerasimov has been going for months, but it’s escalated quickly.
A couple of days ago he (P) issued a long video that basically said: the stated reasons for the war were bullshit, the generals have lied about everything, the Ukrainians are going to win, we’re probably going to lose Crimea etc etc etc.
Reports of Russian Army firing at Wagner in Ukraine in the last week. Artillery and missiles, not just small arms.
He’s just gone further and further, and now he’s taken over the Southern Military District HQ in Rostov. Probably acquired a stack of extra equipment. Doesn’t look like anyone is stopping his forces, aside from minor skirmishes. Apparently Wagner shot down a Russian Army helicopter that was attacking them.
Can’t imagine the morale of the Russian troops in Ukraine will be great if their country is going through that. My initial thoughts were that this was a Ukrainian Info / Psych Operation. But it seems real.
Cheers Etarip, crazy days indeed.
Try and make sense of all of this…. Crazy days.
Velina’s a great correspondent. Really independent views.
This is not a coup by Prigozhin. This is an inner war between the St Petersburg gang of Putin and the Moscow gang of Gerasimov and Shoigu. This is the beginning of Putin‘s election campaign to become reelected on March 17, 2024. His lapdog Prigozhin is masquerading a coup to put…
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) June 24, 2023
Putin has provided an address. Doesn’t call out Prigozhin directly. Curious.
Part of Putin's address. English subtitles. pic.twitter.com/b0VMcYjXeM
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 24, 2023
Strange times. Half expected some major event from left field to pop up and surprise. But not this one.
Spooks will be frothing with excitement thinking that maybe the Men Who Stare At Goats paranormal division has finally mastered long distance mind control and got to the head of Wagner.
"Putin has provided an address. Doesn’t call out Prigozhin directly. Curious."
and apparently P man never called out putin either...
used 'very careful language'
some chick russian expert wrote yesterday, she reckons its some sort of plot to take out the generals, save face, change tack, ...and P man and putin will live happiy ever after...
(after some initial turbulance)
This is not a coup by Prigozhin. This is an inner war between the St Petersburg gang of Putin and the Moscow gang of Gerasimov and Shoigu. This is the beginning of Putin‘s election campaign to become reelected on March 17, 2024. His lapdog Prigozhin is masquerading a coup to put…
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) June 24, 2023
Civil war over in 22 hours???
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-blasts-wagner-treason-betra...
sypkan wrote:"Putin has provided an address. Doesn’t call out Prigozhin directly. Curious."
and apparently P man never called out putin either...
used 'very careful language'
some chick russian expert wrote yesterday, she reckons its some sort of plot to take out the generals, save face, change tack, ...and P man and putin will live happiy ever after...
(after some initial turbulance)
Some chick? That was literally the link I provided above!
There’s was 4 months between the 1991 coup and Gorbachev handing over control.
Hard to believe everyone has shaken hands and it is all over. Wagner apparently shot down one Russian Air Force plane and seven helicopters during that 24hours. Must be some repercussions still to come.
Quote...'Prigozhin capturing Voronezh-45 nuclear storage facility in Russia may be part of the key to the lock that can help explain his decision to suddenly and bizarrely 'end' the coup which was succeeding spectacularly. I've been trying to figure how Prigozhin can guarantee his own survival after this. This may be it. Moscow may never have been his final destination. Vornezh-45 was. Once he got the nukes, he ended the operations because all objectives were achieved.'
etarip wrote:sypkan wrote:"Putin has provided an address. Doesn’t call out Prigozhin directly. Curious."
and apparently P man never called out putin either...
used 'very careful language'
some chick russian expert wrote yesterday, she reckons its some sort of plot to take out the generals, save face, change tack, ...and P man and putin will live happiy ever after...
(after some initial turbulance)
Some chick? That was literally the link I provided above!
Haha.
Good perspective / reflection on Prigozhin’s ‘mutiny / revolt / coup’. Recommended short read.
TL:DR - wow, that really escalated…oops
Below is a brief description of Prigozhin's mutiny and the factors that contributed to its outcome. We, as observers, initially missed important details due to the scarcity of information and lack of time for in-depth analysis. Here's the perspective that currently seems most…
— Tatiana Stanovaya (@Stanovaya) June 25, 2023
Seems a sensible interpretation, probably more realistic than some of the others I have read. Cheers.
Sequence in the "flavour" of views from some media, certain leaders and experts on the "coup" attempt went something like this:
1. WTF?
2. Regime change ahead?, Russia chaos at the very least ! - woo hoo!
3. Oh sh@t, Russia has big nuclear arsenal Who will control it in times of unpredictable chaos with that crazy coup leader and ex criminal mercenaries? - not woo hoo
4. All resolved quickly and central control over nuclear arsenal remains safe and business as usual - WTF? , not woo hoo
5. Analysis suggests Putin weakened, cracks will grow, West can add more and more pressure to widen cracks, regime change and possible Russia chaos ahead - woo hoo!
Then if hopes later become reality, back to another version of 3 again ?
Cognitive dissonance? Safe hands?
It’s is scary AF. There are cracks. And this situation has weeks / months to play out.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed these cracks to a range of factors. Internal and external. Epic self-own. The “West” doesn’t need to apply pressure.
Political manoeuvring and posturing is a feature of the Russian court. Always has been, always will be.
I agree that much of the media coverage and some ‘expert commentary’ has been premature, simplistic and in a lot of cases overly gleeful.
;););)
‘There are cracks’
… epic parmigiana crack ;)
https://m.
&pp=ygUeam9obiB0YWxrcyBzbWFydGVzdCBndXkgaSBrbm93 Political manoeuvring and posturing is not an exclusive feature…
- never has been, never will be ;)
… yet, who exactly has the bigger cracks ? …
- and, who creates and occupies the more fragile glass houses ? ;)
https://m.
&pp=ygUKam9obiB0YWxrcw%3D%3D Lest we forget. Regime change in Libya went not so well. Imagine if the "rebel" fighters had hundreds of nuclear weapons...
9 years ago - chaos
11 months ago - still chaos:
Be careful what you wish for "think tankers" and "leaders" and "lawmakers" such Lindsay Graham
@frog honestly, this stuff is irrelevant. Different power struggles occurred in Lybia for decades before the recent events. These videos just paint a picture in a fraction of time, it's completely pointless.
Flollo,
Oh, of course, I forgot the vast majority of regime changes and / or civil wars over history are predictable and peacefully sorted out between the various parties over a cup of tea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civil_wars
I counted 77 civil wars since 1945. Never a shot fired? Humans never fight? Libya a one off? Warlords hate big guns and bombs - prefer to arm wrestle?
Incompetent, drunken Yeltsin almost turned Russia into a failed state full of nuclear weapons in the 1990s. The country was falling apart. Who knows which regional leaders / mafiosa style gangs would have taken control of their nukes in their vicinity if, almost by fluke, Yeltsin had not anointed an inexperienced, untested Putin who stepped in and kept things under central control. This possible chaos of multiple rival nuclear armed warlords / gangs just near Europe almost happened in our very recent lifetimes whilst most of us slept peacefully ignorant of the risks.
But I suppose all those historical events were all just "fractions in time" and "completely pointless" in understanding current events and possible unpredictable future scenarios according to you.
^^priceless
"all around me are familiar faces.."
https://www.newsweek.com/scottish-leader-pays-price-going-woke-opinion-1...
hehe.. 'rankled'..
Six beat up and heavy - 50kgs plus - boards with unusually thick stringers getting shipped unaccompanied from South America to Europe?
Nothing sus here...
It’s all fun and games until someone (nearly) loses an eye.
https://apple.news/AUMgzzWgcSmKmdB7cqd2iOg
if thinking this stuff is not healthy, and a step too far makes me a crusty old conservative...
then, crusty old conservative it is
Raise your hand if you oppose the sexual indoctrination of children. 🖐🏻 pic.twitter.com/EymLTpRFJf
— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) June 28, 2023
how's old boy boner...
OMG! look at that old cunt leaning against the wall staring at the kids getting a hard on! 😡😡😡😡😡😡 https://t.co/eTSVBf66sQ
— The opinionated Black woman ~ Aunty (@Theblackfemini3) June 28, 2023
and...
https://thespectator.com/topic/pride-lost-public-lgbt-trans-children/
finally some sense pervailing
call shit for what it is
Jeez that's crook as, what's going on, ie dressing (or not) like that around the kids.
you might have to sign up to spectator to read that article... and the no platformers just wouldn't dare do that...
so, some cut and paste
"...Glenn Greenwald largely agrees: “What destroyed the culture war consensus was their cynical and self-interested decision to transform the LGBT cause into one that no longer focused on the autonomy of adult Americans to live freely — which most people support — but instead to demand the right to influence and indoctrinate other people’s children.”
“They are calling them ‘trans kids’ and medicalizing them at an early age. Lying about puberty blockers. Lying about young girls getting irreversible surgery and so on,” says trans man Buck Angel...
...“It’s like a new enforced public holiday thing and people smell a rat,” says Douglas Murray. “The wiser people realize that something weird is being smuggled in. This isn’t just like, ‘don’t beat up your gay neighbor.’ It’s like ‘there is no such thing as gender.’ ‘There is no such thing as sex.’”
We’ve arrived here thanks to a confluence of forces. Perpetual victimhood pushed by activist groups that need a reason to exist and continue collecting money. The corporatization of Pride. The hijacking of the movement by gender ideology.
“You can’t dress toddlers up in extreme political propaganda while lecturing the parents on committing child abuse for not transitioning their kids and expect everyone to keep quiet,” trans writer Chad Felix Greene tells me...
...“These corporations aren’t getting any gay dollars from these fiascos. Gays hate corporations at Pride,” said publicist Mitchell Jackson. “Worst of all, these corporate campaigns just backfire on LGBTQ people. Gay rights are now being threatened again because big-box stores needed to sell tucking underwear.”
Jackson is exasperated that corporations listen to the advocacy groups in an attempt to do the right thing: “Corporations go to these groups for advice, hoping to avoid a woke controversy, and they get led into a hornet’s nest — and then these non-profits can fundraise off of the Bud Light controversy of the week.”
“What changed is that LGBT activist groups could not afford to obtain victory,” Greenwald says. “When activist groups win, their reason for existing, and their large budgets and salaries, dry up. They always have to push debates into whatever places Americans resist. They also have to be losing, have a claim to victimhood, a reason to assert that they are righting the bigotry of Americans.”
“It’s so tragic because we’ve reached this moment when gay people have finally won mainstream acceptance for the first time in, like, 2,000 years of history,” Kirchick said. “It’s OK to be gay pretty much everywhere in America — and there are obviously pockets where it’s still a problem, I’m not gonna deny that — but majorities of Republicans support gay marriage. I’ve seen it in my own life as a thirty-nine-year-old gay man: it’s a lot easier to be gay now than it was six years ago. And just when we’ve reached this moment, these activists have decided, in our name as gay people, to just piss off America and to make them think that we are a threat to their children.”
“I am so upset that my community has been co-opted and has been used for some other agenda,” Angel told me. “The work we have done to get here is profound and should never be forgotten. All we want is to live our lives just like you, but of course that’s not what you see now with the people driving the LGBTQIA+++++ bus.”
The real slippery slope hasn’t been the gay rights movement, as right-wing pundits often say. “When I see some of them going after Pride, they appear to blame gay people for the nonsense peddled in the name of Pride today — when in truth gay people are the victims of it,” comedian Andrew Doyle said...
...“I think gays and women in general are bearing the brunt of the gender ideology nonsense,” Murray said. “And it has itself piggybacked like some kind of parasitic entity onto gay rights.”
“Gender identity ideology is essentially anti-gay,” said Doyle. “Gay rights were secured through the recognition that a minority of people are instinctively orientated towards members of their own sex. Gender identity ideology seeks to break down the very notion of biological sex and claim that it is unimportant.”
Underneath the rainbow facade are illiberal forces such as “queer theory” that have been eroding the classically liberal foundation of the original civil rights movement that won gay and trans folks the rights they have now. We’ve gone from “love is love” to trans women insisting if a lesbian doesn’t want to suck their lady dick, they’re a fascist...
...The temperature has been raised further by the Biden adminstration’s unambiguous embrace of this ideology. The White House is quick to paint anyone doubting the wisdom of what they euphemistically call “gender-affirming care” for minors as a knuckle-dragger, even though the overwhelming majority of Americans support a ban on such care and many liberal, tolerant European countries have banned it or scaled it back.
No wonder dyed-in-the-wool Democrats who disagree with the idea of biological men in women’s spaces — or are confused about the pseudo-religious idea that you were born in the wrong body, and wonder whether or not pausing puberty is even possible — are terrified to speak out...
...Herein lies the problem with Pride. You can no longer opt out of the ideology. The trans activism changed everything. It is coercive. It is everywhere. Big Tech acts as an enforcer, in conjunction with the state, policing language, pronouns, exacting punishments for refusing to repeat the mantras “trans women are women” and “gender-affirming care is reproductive freedom.”
“I know many gay activists from yesteryear who are coming out of retirement to address this new anti-gay movement which has usurped Pride,” said Doyle. “It doesn’t help that all criticism of Pride is interpreted as homophobic or transphobic. These are important conversations. Like most culture-war issues, we need to stop thinking of this in terms of ‘left’ and ‘right’. These things are irrelevant. There are left-wing gay people and right-wing gay people — and all of them are harmed by Pride in its current form.”
The backlash is veering into a full-blown moral panic. “I’m seeing a lot more people online talking about gay people as though we are all pedophiles who want to groom children into becoming cross-dressing strippers, and a lot of what’s going on feels like good old-fashioned bigotry rearing its ugly head once again,” said Herzog..."
...
Have it cunts