Happy Frickin’ Friday. It came about three days too late again. Also, my wife got me drunk last night. So I’m basically writing the Dodge truck equivalent of code right now. Its probably going to come apart in the first two years, but if it doesn’t, it will never fail.
In sportzball news I care about, the fate of the Houston Astros is in the hands that get to hold Kate Upton’s beautiful breasts. Don’t let us down, new guy!
I don’t usually give links to Youtube for non-music, but this video of a police chase in Houston combined with the newscaster banter is hilarious. Apparently you can watch the one hour version also. But I kicked Dodge around a little in the intro, so here’s theirs back.
Sorry babe, I can’t quit smoking, so I guess I’ll just have to quit going down on you instead.
I mean, its not as bad as teaching monkeys kung fu, but maybe we shouldn’t teach the robots, either.
Our Libertopia awaits in the Moon.
It seems like a great day for the Theme Song.
Comments
295 responses to “Friday Afternoon links”
Well first I guess
Uh….it would appear so.
*backs away*
It’s the purple shoes. Florida man is a “would”.
Is that a FLA thing?
Maybe.
Those eyes are purdy.
*straightens bacon wrinkles*
Don’t you mean an FLA thing. Where is Ted when you need him?
Purple shoes you say… like these guys?
Those bots don’t look as fast as lightning.
They are still a little bit frightening.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_vq94cxeCw8
Somewhere within my mother’s abode lies an unopened box of this marvel of capitalism.
Wrong discipline of marital art, sure. But the thread brought it to mind and the thought of this kind of tripe existing, much less accruing value with the passage of time, brings me no end of amusement.
Canoe Canoe?
Robots learning Kung Fu? You want Skynet? This is how you get Skynet.
Nah, bruh. This is how you get Skynet.
Ok that’s scary creepy.
The homunculus running like it’s partying on the Jersey Shore is my favorite. “Shakeweight of Doom” is the official codeword for “the ai apocolypse is upon us” in my home.
Shakeweight is one of the funniest infomercials/fitness products ever. One of the best: yoga pants.
Spandex: it’s a privilege, not a right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtdsa8WX19g
Funnier than the Hawaii Chair?
The not-in-any-way sexual grunts of the guys in the shakeweight commercials always cracked me up.
I imagine the first humanoid agent constantly screaming “FUCK YEAH!”
NPR quote: “Speeches this week railed on, but never named, President Trump.”
I just heard that. One of the speakers was McCain.
The Bush quote talked about conspiracy theories, which could easily be interpreted to be referring to the Russian Meddling shit. Do you hate-listen to NPR too, friend?
Yeah, it’s that or Hannity (shudder) right now on local radio. And science Friday is actually enjoyable most of the time. But normally it’s more of amusement at the audacity of their lefty partisanship than actual hate.
I’m glad I’ve got a classical music station, although begging season always sucks.
Sirius ala carte option is $7.99 a month. why anyone listens to regular radio anymore baffles me.
My car radio still has a tape deck and there’s a rock station that doesn’t monetize the evening commute.
I contribute to mine but it doesn’t help, great music though
Bush is a creature of the establishment. The narrative promulgated by the establishment cannot be a conspiracy theory by definition.
At this point I think that some establishment Republicans were aware of spying on the Trump campaign organized by the Obama administration. That would explain their embrace of the RUSSIAMEDDLEDWITHTHEELECTIONS narrative. No Russia meddling — Obama’s spying on Trump is much, much worse than Watergate.
Correction: Speeches by John McCain and George W. Bush.
http://amp.dailycaller.com/2017/10/20/hillary-clintons-russian-ghost-stories/
“the former KGB First Chief Directorate, targeted Clinton in 2008 and tried to burrow into her inner circle”
Phrasing?
My internet is down. Can anyone tell me the score to the Cal game?
Sure! 0-0
Tomorrow, 7:00 PM on PACN
California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California
Arizona
Wildcats
@
California
Golden Bears
Calendar resets tomorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3qv2dVWwd8
I bought a fresh loaf of steam-cooked Jewish rye cooked by a crazy Russian baker out of a shed he built himself. Boar’s Head pastrami and brown mustard. I am so excited.
*Edit Fairy Blesses You*
Bought
I’d buy that too.
The bread or the edit faerie?
You know the answer.
Both.
Bacon faerie sandwich?
With fries…
*stares menacingly at Count Potato*
I was in NY a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t too fired up about the pastrami. It was very bland. I had to fry it in honey mustard to make it passable for lunch.
We were in Balitmore last month and visited a “famous” deli – pastrami didn’t deliver there either. If available in your area, try the Boar’s Head Top Round Pastrami – it won’t disappoint.
Costco has a decent product. I can’t remember the brand name, though. Loaded with fat, so I assume it’s not top round.
Canadian Costco sells packaged Montreal Smoked Meat. Having had the “real thing” (and also its Winnipeg variant), the Montreal stuff from Costco is surprisingly good. But fatty. Very fatty. Weirdly enough, when ordering it from an actual deli in Montreal, it’s usually “Gimme a lean on rye.”
I’m still baffled as to which part of this stuff could conceivably be thought of as “lean.”
Boar’s Head is good stuff.
You bought pastami in a store?
No that’s the fake stuff. Pastrami is the real thing.
i’ve never had pastrami from a package. i have no idea what form of horror it entails.
There’s a flyover country recipe called “shit on the shingles” which uses Budding meat (nasty stuff). Essentially it’s poor man’s toast and gravy. My dad was a firefighter and had a variation on it using hamburger and sausage as main ingredient instead of that vile stuff.
that was what my father called creamed-chipped-beef on toast, which was something he was served while in the marine corps/or was a staple in greasy-spoon diners mid-century.
*it looks more like vomit on toast, frankly.
It’s “Buddig” , It’s “Creamed Chipped Beef over Toast”, and It’s ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS, I have read some stupid shit on this site but BM you just trumped them all.
Agreed.
Oh whatevs Hyperbole, you know that shit is naaaaasty. If you like that then you’re close to Uncivilservant on the tastebud scale.
He hee you said trumped.
#classy
Creamed chipped Beef, also known as SOS served my Marine wives the World over!
/yummy
Creamed chipped Beef, also known as SOS served my Marine wives the World over!
How many Marine wives have you had?
that was what my father called creamed-chipped-beef on toast, which was something he was served while in the marine corps
Same here. It was a favorite occasional treat when I was just a wee Dean (we referred to it as SOS, as Yusef notes).
you’re close to Uncivilservant on the tastebud scale
Hey, I’ll have you know that I invented the award winning replace 1/2 the oil with sesame oil pizza dough trick.
They served creamed chipped beef on biscuits at the Officers Club at Ft. Hood for weekend brunch. When I was a little kid, i could eat probably 2 pounds of the stuff. I fucking love it.
Good pastrami, a wall of craft beer. No frills, but neat and clean place. Old school. Worth the drive, amigo. https://yelp.to/qTKq/yvt2SxhopH
Is Boars Head better on the east coast? Because around here that brand tastes like Oscar Meyer. I don’t understand the love for that brand.
The products aren’t regional, but I’ve noticed that here in the midwest many retailers have no clue what they are ordering. One week they have the low-sodium or alternate product type and are selling under the same name.
Last time I had Boar’s Head it was delicious, but that was years ago, and not pastrami. I didn’t feel like driving an extra hour today to get my favourite house pastrami sliced up. I’ll get some tomorrow though.
Thanks Edit Farray!
The Boar’s Head pastrami isn’t bad.
There’s my girl!
I made pastrami once. Was a little more salty/jerky like than I wanted, but was still pretty damn good.
My internet is down.
Where does this joke come from? Is it a meme from another site or a Glibmeme?
I tried to find the answer for you but my Google is broke.
That one is likely one day younger than the internet itself.
the hands that get to hold Kate Upton’s beautiful breasts
Some guys have all the luck!
Some guys get all the breaks.
I imagine pro athletes experience dating in a very different way than the rest of us.
when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything
Rapist! Molester! BASTARD!
Yeah, think of all the groupies they have coming at them.
Yay for afternoon links. It means that drinking time is almost here.
Amen, brother!
Skol!
almost here?
*slowly sets down Strohs, whistles”
*applause*
Some of us are still at work!
(Also, I finished that moonshine that was in my desk drawer.)
nope here now!
/Sips a torpedo bomber
Gots me some Gin Mare that needs exploring. Martinis tonight!
Also some of Merridale’s Copper Gin to play with. Ohhhh, I’m gonna regret this tomorrow.
Man, I was born a generation or two too early to be involved in exploring moon caves. That will be a heck of an adventure.
Take heart: at the rate governments the world over are spending money, there won’t be enough discretionary funds left over for moon ventures a generation or two hence. And unless there is some as yet undiscovered valuable resource up there, or unless the cost of space flight is brought down sufficiently to make space tourism viable, I doubt the private sector will be filling the void, so you aren’t missing out.
Well, I’m still missing it. Although my life has been far more comfortable since I don’t have to poop in a glorified vacuum cleaner.
a
my guess is that they are probably more-boring than the ones on earth, and only about equally-dangerous. (ignoring the complications of getting to them in the first place)
cave-divers are crazy imho.
I think some people need different amounts of challenge and excitement. My job involves climbing steel structures, but is pretty safe if you don’t cut corners. I live near one of the longest underwater caves in the world, if I’m not mistaken (see Wakulla Karst Plain Project). Yeah, those guys are nuts. Way too much risk for me.
My college roommate did vertical caving (go into cave, then repel down). He taught a class and had some safety manuals, that had case studies. About 3/4ths ended with “sprained ankle” and the other 1/4th with “gruesome death”. The thing I learned was when in trouble in a cave, the first call is to the local cave rescue group and the second call is to 911. And make sure you wait long enough before the 2nd call that the first group arrives first.
And whatever you do, don’t call Kirk Douglas.
I did some caving when I lived in CO. It was creepy going back in to find the way you went last week was now caved in,
plus getting kicked in the face, breaking your primary lamp= sppoky
You must have some awesome cell service if you can make calls from (deep) inside a cave.
Yeah, but 1/6 (or whatever) the gravity adds a new wrinkle into the whole thing
Now i understand
True Romance lied to me!
I think we should first check to see if that moon cave if full of mynocks and has a spongy floor.
Shoot the floor with a blaster.
GREEDO DID NOT SHOOT FIRST
I found a woman who can satisfy Swiss Servator and Q Continuum at the same time .
Ja! Oui! Sì! Gea!
OMG those eyes doe
I’ll be in my bunk.
Painted on eyebrows and fake eyes are fucking scary and weird.
Says the guy with radioactive hair sprayed do
Dear Lord!
That woman had the look of exactly what any sane man would want his girlfriend to look like. Such beautiful eyes and such a beautiful smile.
I found her website. Yeah. After work today, I’ll be indisposed for the evening.
She used to be a fatty so she probably has a decent personality too.
Ja.
I don’t usually give links to Youtube for non-music, but this video of a police chase in Houston combined with the newscaster banter is hilarious.
What a shit GTA player, he missed every car!
Seriously, that was awesome. Someone needs to cut it with scenes from Smokey and The Bandit.
If dodge had any balls they’d edit the parts where the helicopter guy is just awed by the speed into a commercial, imagine the kinds of shit that would stir up.
Imagine getting sued by the perp for using his likeness and work! 😀
Although I guess they could claim ‘no reasonable expectation of privacy’ or ‘public domain’.
I used to watch the live chases in LA. Once in a while there would be a getaway. Hint: The helicopter can’t follow you around the airport.
Man, that looks like some fun.
Alright, I am thoroughly entertained by this. TROLOLOLOL
Nobody NEEDS more than 6 cylinders!
+11 Keiichi “Dorifto Kingu” Tsuchiya and his Toyota AE86.
Military History Visualized channel did a video on official statements by the East German’s Military on the Reagan’s Crusade speech in the British Parliament in June 1982.
From his introduction:
“For full immersion, I recommend you get three items now. A hammer, a sickle yet, most importantly, an empty plate. Because nothing gets closer to ‘real socialism’ than that.”
He’ll be demonetized for that.
If only there were something guaranteed to make your day better, male or female, gay or straight. Fear not, boobs are here!
http://archive.is/ULUXk
20. She clearly knows how to make a sammich.
I… think I know #3.
#7, #29 – excluded from the orgy due to stupid nose bull ring.
#18 is Kendra Sunderland.
I would have said 31, but holy butterface batman.
More!
https://double-big-c.deviantart.com/art/boobs-6-537754031
Still more!
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/c58a39f9dc2c571bfe1a3c0d76cdf187.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=600
Both please.
comments are all variations on “show bob and vagene”.
Texas Florida Man or Florida Texas Man?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-three-arrested-spencer-shooting-20171020-story.html
Hitler’s problem was that he couldn’t Storify/Tweet-Sturm Mein Kampf
Adolf Hitler✓ (@theAustrianCorporal)
tl;dr: ((())) did it
56623/56623
i like that you added a Verrit code
I forgot the #StabbedInTheBack
Who have I been following @paperhangingSOB then?
Refreshingly short on ink, less than 10%.
Damnmit, meant for Q’s FLPB post.
You could have been talking about a fountain pen that spilled in your pocket.
Euphemistic!
I’d like to spill a fountain pen in that ASMR girl’s pocket IYKWIMAITYD.
How ’bout some Friday afternoon music?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsXjCp_f1h4
I… I’ve always liked that tune…
Watching ZARDOZ now because I don’t really have anything better to do. Doing it sober too because it’s not officially quitting for a while.
Yea, about that Zardoz thing….
I got nothing.
You people are giving me nothing to work with!
Speaking of work….
DO ANY OF YOU WORK?!
It’s like we are the puppets and you are the puppet master, eh?
Just make sure you keep the white walkers under control.
I just got through saying I’m not working!
DONT YOU EVEN READ THE PRECEEDING COMMENT?!
I let the orphans do most of my work. Isn’t that why we have them?
Those maps aren’t gonna reduce themselves y’know.
I’m setting up fake networks on fake Cisco devices. Yay Packet Tracer!
I initially read that as fake Crisco devices.
I “work” in a govt office.
I’m done for the night.
“But I kicked Dodge around a little in the intro, so here’s theirs back.”
TRUE DOMINEERING SPECIES DRIVE HEMIS!!!!! OVERHEAD CAMS ARE FOR BITCH-ASS MAMMALS
Pics or it didn’t happen.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5001416/Mexican-actress-sex-Sean-Penn-El-Chapo-doc.html
I read that URL as “ass sex”
Australian reporter interviews Assange’s attorney about HRC’s claims. Gets lesson in truth: http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/content/s4750641.htm
(apologies: can’t find the transcript, the link is to a 4:23 online interview). Summary statement, Hillary Clinton is once again diverting attention from what was a disastrous campaign by an appalling candidate.”
In which someone claims never to have heard of furries.
Aww, bless his heart.
Call the Waaaaambulance.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/long-leftist-tantrum/
Those “load more” buttons are pretty much the same thing as breaking an article up and forcing you to click to into multiple pages.
Fucking obnoxious.
I know. Its fucking text. Its not going to break the weakest internet connection or the sorriest browser to load the whole thing.
I assume the “Load More” is not to reduce system resources, but to provide data on how much of the article a viewer reads.
I assume it cranks their stats to have more clicks.
And I don’t like being inconvenienced for their benefit, regardless of the reason.
Also, prediction: West Ham’s manager gets fired by noon tomorrow at the latest.
Anybody ever install a farmhouse kitchen sink into corian countertops? Any issues with installing the garbage disposal through the single drain?
Never in corian but half a dozen into granite, they were double bowl though, but I can’t see why that would matter, the only problem I had was the tight space as they sit lower/are deeper than most normal sinks, and a few were very heavy and I wasn’t thinking and some of the support I added got in the way.
I can probably cut into the countertop without an issue, I’m just curious how much weight it can hold if I buy a drop in rather than set it into the cabinet. The cabinets are probably trashed after the three Mexicans at my house now are installing a new underground pipe to the septic tank.
Ah, all of the ones I’ve done were under mount, some were light and had a flange that I could rest on some 2×2 frames against the side of the cabinet, a few were heavy and I added cross bars underneath, these got in the way of the big flange on the disposal. I guess the question I’d have is how far away is the sink going to be from solid cabinetry under the top, a foot or so and I’d say you’ll be fine, more than that I’d add some support.
It’s more than a foot, but I will have to table this one. Apparently, the main is about as trashed at the one that collapsed under my kitchen…may as well replace that one while you’re at it esse….
The house’s previous owner didn’t know it was on septic, until a similar issue happened in the master bathroom, so for ten years they paid the city for sewer and didn’t use the plumbing accordingly.
Corain will likely hold it well. In college one of my professors did the material testing for #M(?) who developed it. IIRC, it can hold something on the order of 1ksi in tension, at room temps anyway (just don’t overheat your corian!). Of course, depends on the span between supports, and how much of the countertop is left after you cut into it… My parents corian countertop has the sink molded right into it, which looks really nice and works great.
Yes, Cut from the bottom, and painters Blue the Fuck out of the top. My BIL was about to wreck MILs new top when I came up with this idea and it worked. Brace it well when installing, no twisting
Ontario sees Quebec’s niqab law, says hold my beer.
Man, had only Stephen Harper thought of it, he’d be presiding over an empty Parliament.
In what universe is that defamation?
KHAAAAAAAN!
Guy that doesn’t realize he’s a puppet dances for his masters once again.
What a douche.
FIRE does great work.
https://www.thefire.org/a-world-without-hate-speech/
*lights Zippo and holds it in the air*
I’ve been saying that for a long time.
Trust is earned.
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/10/12/wheres-the-trust/
Is it how No Labels is called these days?
‘FRIDAY, Oct. 20, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Smoking and oral sex may be a deadly combo that raises a man’s risk for head and neck cancer, a new study suggests.’
‘New Study’ automatically sets off my bullshit detector…
*Thinks about the young woman who cashes my checks at ye ole credit union*
Nope. Refuse to listen.
LALALALALALALALALA!!!
I think receiving oral sex is still ok.
NEW STUDY* SHOWS: Not Giving Enough Blowjobs Drastically Increases Cancer Risk For Females
* funded by the Gilmore Center for Scientific Excellence and Haircare Products
Finally, agenda driven science I can get behind.
I can get ahead from it.
(polite applause)
Oh, absolutely, positively, unequivocally, 110% motherfucking obligatory!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOdI5JbBniI
Especially right after the lady just brushed her teeth, I’ve recently discovered. The searing nuttiness! *shudder*
Mintiness…..autocorrect you bastard
I think the first comment works just as well, if not better.
Sharing is caring, Q.
Cancer prevention is everyone’s responsibility.
^
*glances upward*
Holy misthread, Batman.
*hangs head in shame*
For those who like cult movies, TCM is showing “Mahogany” at 8PM ET tonight.
Is Crispin Glover directing?
Billy Dee! Billy Dee! Billy Dee!
Diana Ross’ nipple!
I eagerly await the lamentations after tonight’s inevitable Yankee triumph.
Politics according to “The Swamp” (Note on Author: Ford O’Connell (@FordOConnell) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, worked on John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and authored the book “Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery.”)
Link to the Story
The Republican senators up for election in 2018 have not been the dam blocking Trump’s agenda.
Its these Senators, among others, who failed to even attempt to pass a true OCare repeal. Who failed to even attempt to push gun deregulation. Who failed to even attempt immigration reform. Who have done zip, zero, nada to push anything remotely resembling what the people who put them and Trump into office want.
Diverting to four Republicans who voted against a bill that Trump didn’t even like is a transparent attempt to paper over the colossal failure of the DC Republicans as a whole.
It’s not just DC republicans. Illinois republicans have been the exact same way.
They are SO afraid of leftist MSM swipes at them that they won’t do anything for fear of further negative press. Contrast that with Trump who usually doesn’t give a shit about negative coverage and actually throws the shit right back at the MSM.
Throwing the shit right back at them got Trump MORE face time and more chances to get his message across – it actually made the MSM talking heads increasingly faceless as nobody could remember which one was upset over Trump.
The establishment GOP is pissed because this was obviously not a grand strategy by Trump, it’s just what he is and it is working. And it’s exposing the chicken shits. They can’t stand the fact that they owe so many political favors while Trump owes none.
“Diverting to four Republicans who voted against a bill that Trump didn’t even like is a transparent attempt to paper over the colossal failure of the DC Republicans as a whole.”
QFT.
Ken Shultz hardest hit.
He is on my shit list today.
People die.
CAPITALISM KILLED THEM
Totally like the gulags and commanded economies.
Totally.
Seems legit.
So they are acknowledging that communism killed 94 million people now?
I fail to understand how capitalism is related to any of those things.
Because capitalism prevents the solutions to those problems from being freely distributed to poor countries. Of course, without capitalism, the solutions wouldn’t exist at all.
Something tells me those deaths (dirty water, hunger, curable disease) occur mainly in the non-capitalist countries of the world. But attributing the failings of their own system to that of their rivals’ is par for the course for commies.
Capitalism prevents DDT from being manufactured to control malaria?
NZ’s new PM agrees: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935456
Simple solution: More commie spies in NZ’s Parliament.
That’s been a wild story. Also funny listening to NZ journalists try to walk on the (created by them) tightrope of “foreign influence like Trump & Putin” (bad) and “stereotyping Chinese as a threat to NZ” (also bad). Since he’s a member of the evil National Party, they’ve tended to lean to the embracing the latter.
There have been plenty of studies detailing the deliberate human costs of communism, it’d be interesting to see some kind of analysis looking at deaths and other miseries that were unintentional products of communist systems.
Clickbait time.
https://www.ranker.com/list/cursed-objects/jacob-shelton?ref=rltdlsts&l=1747040
This makes more sense
h/t funny libertarian
So… who is the chick in the hat?
Randy had a late-in-life change to his gender and racial identity
No but really who is it? Maxine?
Wilson from Florida. The one who started the shit show claiming Trump disrespected a military widow
I was vaguely aware of that story happening, but I haven’t really been following the news… too busy! (Yet I sitll read you guys’ posts!)
It cannot be unseen!
http://www.jokeoverflow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/andys-room-500×281.jpg
mental sandbox time
Is it possible to make an anti-tank rifle that fires the same depleted uranium round as the A-10? That would be pretty cool. I wonder if would be a cheap substitute for an anti-tank guided missile.
Along the same lines, suppose you made an anti-tank gun similar to the German 88 that fired the same DU rounds as the Abrams tank. That would have all the killing power without the expensive tank.
An Abrams DU round costs about $8k while a decent anti-tank missile like the Kornet costs about $100k and the launcher costs $900k
Is it possible to make an anti-tank rifle that fires the same depleted uranium round as the A-10?
Shoulder-mounted? I would think not. Crew-served? Probably. The problem is the recoil – anything that can punch through tank armor has to be carrying an enormous amount of energy, which produces a comparably brutal recoil, I would assume.
suppose you made an anti-tank gun similar to the German 88 that fired the same DU rounds as the Abrams tank.
I have no doubt this can be done. Direct-fire artillery that isn’t mobile probably isn’t going to get off many shots on the modern battlefield, though. Same might hold for the smaller anti-tank rifle suggested above.
Yep – the answer in both cases is weight and recoil. If it’s unguided, just use a Charlie G.
AT guns went out of style after the end of WW2 for a simple reason – for the size of gun that was needed, weight was too much. Even British 17 pdr took couple hours to set up in a position, so you better hope German tanks are coming right there or you’ll feel stupid. Plus, you need a large crew to man the gun, whereas recoilless rifles and RPGs can be used by small teams. You’re also susceptible to bombardments and infantry weapons heavier than a rifle.
If you want all the fancy optics and computers of the Abrams, you have to enclose the gun, or rain will mess it up for you. So now you basically have a turret you have to drag around – why not just put it on the tracks?
And if you do that, armor that shit up and make it a tank – the light tank/tank destroyer concepts likewise were tried and found wanting. I guess you could save some money and space by dispensing with turret and making an assault gun/tank hunter vehicle, like StuG IV or SU-85/100, but again, tank is more versatile and more useful.
Guided missiles are supposed to trade higher cost for better range (there’s no drop in effectiveness because the speed of impact is irrelevant) and greater likelihood of kill on each hit. Wiki says that Javelin costs about $250K, with $78K per missile, has a three-mile range and hits the top of a tank, which is probably a guaranteed penetration.
But, as a guy who gravitates toward Soviet-type forces in wargames, I salute your appreciation for the quality of quantity!
I’ve mentioned this old game here before, but in case you didn’t see it: Velikiye Luki. It’s primitive by today’s standards, but in 1992, it was incredible.
Javelin is a reusable launcher. AT-4 though (and variants) start at about $1500. Unguided yes, but significantly better than RPG-7.
Cheaper to design a manportable Javelin style (death from above) or tandem warhead launcher (necessary for add-on armor packs, ERA, etc).
more mental sandbox time
So there’s this thing called plunging fire which is aiming a machine gun up so that the bullets arc. If you put a Gatling gun on a truck, you could do a nice shoot and scoot maneuver at targets a few hundred yards away. A 50 cal gun could hit targets at 2000 m.
There’s always at least one person that gets injured from falling celebratory gunfire on New Year’s in ABQ.
Interesting note along similar lines: following the battle of Isandlwana, Zulus captured significant quantities of British rifles on the battlefield and in skirmishes shortly afterward. At the subsequent Battle of Rorke’s Drift, British soldiers reported seeing Zulu warriors firing rifles at the same angle at which they would have thrown spears. Owing to the close-range nature of the battle, most bullets overshot the British compound by a significant distance.
What got me thinking about this stuff was imagining how a poor country could defend itself against a strong enemy for the least money.
There are three main threats to counter: tanks, aircraft, and infantry
I’m thinking the best mix would be anti-tank cannons, snipers, and shoulder-fired missiles. Machine guns, mortars, and RPGs would be good to have too.
Living in a mountain range helps too.
^ Can confirm from racial memories.
Sabermetrics, but for warfare? Brad Pitt can play Derpetologist in the movie. Younger, fatter Jonah Hill can play me. Also starring Shia LaBoeuf as Tony.
Who plays Hihn?
steve buscemi
Klaus Kinski, sufficiently insane and vicious.
oooh, i like.
I would add – be willing to take a lot of casualties and hang on for long enough that the strong enemy decides the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. You’re not going to stop an invasion by someone with tanks, heavy artillery, an air force, etc. who is willing to use them like they mean it and take some casualties of their own.
The Soviets didn’t exactly have scruples about using tanks and helicopters in Afghanistan or Chechnya but it still didn’t work out well for them.
You could take a look at Israeli military cca 1948-1958. They were not receiving tons of US aid then, they were under official sanctions by most Western governments (it was for “balance” – they weren’t selling to Arabs, then Arabs got the goods from USSR anyway) and they were just developing their economy. They made some sub-rosa deals with France, and later got some decommissioned Centurion tanks from the Brits while they were all preparing for Suez Crisis. While they only officially went to war once, in 1956, they had constant skirmishes on the borders.
Good point. I was perhaps foolishly assuming that the “strong enemy” was actually competent.
I was reading Moshe Dayan’s book about the Sinai campaign. A scout in a jeep spotted 3 Egyptian tanks dug and was about to shoot with a bazooka when they spotted him. Luckily, an Israeli tank rolled in just in time and hit the tank taking aim at the guy with the bazooka. Then the guy with the bazooka shot the same tank then the crews of all 3 tanks jumped out and ran away.
About the same time, Bin Laden’s dad asked an engineer if he could turn a bulldozer into a tank. He wanted to go fight the Israelis.
Ooh, that reminds me – the book Arabs at War has a chapter on Libyan invasions of Chad, and there’s an example of Chadians winning in the end by outmaneuvering Lybians – they used pickup trucks with .50 cal machine guns, shoulder-mounted AA missiles and recoilless rifles to swiftly move around the desert, isolate Libyan strongholds and reduce them while intercepting relief columns. Libyans definitely qualified as a “stronger” enemy as far as equipment and supplies go.
Libyans were actually doing pretty good until they pissed off their own Chadian contingent, and thus lost the troops who would be able to parry such tactics.
They were fighting Arabs so I’m not sure they count. Maybe you should study the Vietnamese.
Ignore the Geneva convention?
Have a very strong ally.
Turn all your women into feminists.
today in unsurprising news:
Locals may have helped Islamic State ambush Green Berets in Niger
Officials told UPI that U.S. Army soldiers were delayed while leaving a meeting on Oct. 4, which may have been done intentionally as part of the ambush.
Where’s my shocked face?
No kidding. I just assumed that ISIS had local help.
I wouldn’t want Niger’s troops in the U.S.
Let’s call it a victory and go already.
1+ GTFO of everywhere
amusing
Report: North Korea elites being deprived of rations
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Elites in North Korea’s judiciary, military and science education sectors continue to receive rations, while those in administrative and social welfare fields are being denied theirs, according to the source.
A second source in Yanggang Province said independent farmers and traders in rural areas are “getting a kick” out of watching state rations-dependent peers struggling with a cut in resources.
***
independent farmers and traders in rural areas
Those are a Nork thing? Huh.
There’s a kind of soft capitalism with various levels of grey markets because even the Norks figured out that micromanaging the food supply leads to famines. Farmers have to give a certain amount of food to the government but can basically sell off the rest.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MI23Dg02.html
“while those in administrative and social welfare fields are being denied their [rations]”
I know my shocked face is around here somewhere…
today in bathos
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In fact, Bloom’s advocacy of rationality over empathy misses something crucial: empathy offers data to aid rational decision-making. When I am trying to understand how other people feel, either just by using my imagination or literally trying to feel that thing, I am learning something about the world. If you want to make “cost-benefit” calculuses about the lives of other people, it helps to understand what their pains and pleasures are actually like.
…
People like Bloom and Harris are often oblivious to the pitfalls of cost-benefit analyses, which can give them the dangerous belief that their subjective ideas of the social good are somehow objective and mathematically correct.
…
But if we’re ever to actually eliminate war, to create a world based on mutual understanding, it’s vital for everyone to realize that the planet is filled with nothing but fellow creatures, that we’re all just holding our trousers up.
***
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/empathy-probably-a-good-thing
No one tell Robinson, but he’s making the exact same argument the Austrian School makes against orthodox economics.
The next bit shows how confused Robinson is:
Note that his definition of empathy (“I have always understood empathy to mean “trying to imagine what it is like to be other people” so that we can compassionately understand where they are coming from. “) is not necessarily inconsistent with economists concluding that, in spite of the toll on rust belt town, free trade is a good thing. He assumes (I daresay showing a lack of empathy with economists) that they are incapable of trying to imagine what it is like to be other people. And, of course, he then veers from “disagreeing with economists” to “despising economists”, which I suspect tells us more about him than the topic being discussed.
He is the very definition of “a sad little man”.
ISIS at it again
Suicide bomber kills dozens at Kabul mosque
This tickled me for some reason. But I feel bad for the poor bastards stuck on their Friday commute.
that is funny.
https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/920709146789515272
LOL
OT – your characterization of dolphins as AQUASQUATCHES a few days ago was masterful. Hat tips and monocle polishes, Sirrah!
I haven’t been able to read the links real thoroughly the last couple days because of work*, so I’m not sure if anyone posted this update to that crap about Kirkus rescinding its starred review for American Heart.
Money quote:
So. Confirmation that one of the most prestigious book reviewers in the industry is politically biased and they’re not sorry about it, either. Cool.
There was a hubbub about it in the Libertarian Fiction Authors mailing list earlier. A few guys joked that they should infiltrate YA to “combat this abhorrent level of cultural rot.” I’d jump in but I mostly lurk there since it’s attached to my professional name so I’m trying to keep my mouth shut about anything that could come back to bite me in the butt later.
* including this one, so if someone already commented this above I’m sorry to be a jackass and double post, haha. I am going to try to catch up on everything tonight when I’m off.
Isn’t Marxist/Socialist literary criticism supposed to be all about whether a given work contributes something beneficial to society?
https://quizlet.com/13083484/schools-of-literary-criticism-flash-cards/
There are only a short list of agreed upon contextual perspectives from which a work can be criticized, and that’s been one of the generally accepted ones for a long time.
I’d argue with that link’s definition, by the way. I don’t think Marxist criticism needs to be about class struggle per se, so much as it’s about whether the work is good for society. If I wrote a blistering criticism of a Marxist work for being Marxist and how that makes it bad for society, that would still be within the realm of socialist/Marxist criticism, right?
There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, so long as you’re up front about your standards. If I’m writing about communist fiction and I’m not being upfront about my distaste for communism itself, that’s probably a major party foul.
Commies love freedom of association when they are not in power.
If that LFA mail list got leaked, how many careers would be ruined?
Jesus fucking Christ, this is some good old-fashioned Communist-style purging. Squealer from The Animal Farm could learn from them.
If that LFA mail list got leaked, how many careers would be ruined?
It’s kind of like the Friends of Abe, some of the more vocal members (I guess the James Woods and Kelsey Grammer of the book world) are open about it but there are a hell of a lot of us in there who lurk to avoid career ruination.
Not to mention supremely racist.
How dare they write fiction form the POV of whites!
All I can say is “huh? What country am I living in?”
These people are true regressives.
In sportzball news I care about, the fate of the Houston Astros is in the hands that get to hold Kate Upton’s beautiful breasts. Don’t let us down, new guy!
If he fucks up, I will happily console Kate Upton.
DEG: He hasn’t fucked up. In fact, he’s pitching another gem. I think that’s why tall, good-looking successful athletes wind-up with Kate Upton’s tits hitting their cleft-chins during lovemaking sessions. Just a hunch.
So much for New Zealand being Libertopia…
It had its moment.
This is a thing that really pisses me of with Reason, the cosmos and others is that they act as if 1990s neoliberalism was the end of history and would never be challenged ever and that is was basically libertarianism. However governments are getter bigger and spending more money and now free speech is bad.
Also the media and academia still despise libertarianism. The elites still too despite the virtue signalling and cocktail party. The left hasn’t exactly become libertarian either. And the notion that in the libertarian moment non-libertarians will never win election won’t happen. Hell even when classical liberalism was ascendant they still had opposition and lost elections
I can’t believe anything with the words “Rolling Stone” in it.
https://twitter.com/MrNashington/status/917098778410278912
Fake news, but point taken.
http://newmediacentral.net/shocking-new-study-finds-virtue-signalling-male-feminists-70-more-likely-to-be-hypocrites/
Real news: why hasn’t it been studied? It seems like a good hypothesis, kind of like how people who think they’ve done a good deed also can end up feeling entitled to be assholes later.
“The English beauty first appeared in the nude magazine’s pages way back in 1981, before her transgender identity was revealed. But the publication had her back again for her own pictorial a decade later, after the details of her gender reassignment had been made public, making her the first transgender model ever to appear among the famous Bunnies.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3172524/Caroline-Cossey-transgender-woman-pose-Playboy-reveals-life-fell-apart-gender-identity-suddenly-exposed.html
This should be for your eyes only…
H. L. Mencken was the Thomas Friedman of his time. Sorry Gilmore.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/306393/
Also Jeff Tucker is very critical of anone who criticized classical liberalism yet lives Mencken who was a fan of the anti-liberal German Empire.
Sorry, “me”, too. For all his faults Mencken was nowhere near as stupid as Thomas Friedman.
interesting
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Even though they didn’t manage to kill any Israelis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad held a “victory parade” yesterday in the streets of Gaza. Spokesmen from the organization boasted that they defeated the almighty Israeli military machine. And one Grad apparently landed only 32 kilometers from Tel Aviv.
Propaganda aside, who won this latest round? It’s hard to swallow, but Israel is the bigger loser.
For one, the Jewish state paid a huge economic price. One Grad rocket costs roughly $1,000. One intercepting Iron Dome missile costs $100,000. On average, Israel fired two Iron Dome missiles per Grad. Thus, intercepting 40 Grads worth $40,000 cost Israel $8 million. Plus, while the rockets were flying, some 200,000 Israeli students didn’t go to school, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis were confined to shelters and did not go to work.
***
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/94134/under-fire
amusing
***
Rouketopolemos (Greek Рουκετοπόλεμος, literally “rocket war”) is the name of a local traditional event held annually at Easter in the town of Vrontados (Βροντάδος) on the Greek island of Chios. As a variation of the Greek habit of throwing fireworks during the celebration of the service at midnight before Easter Sunday, two rival church congregations in the town perform a “rocket war” by firing tens of thousands of home-made rockets across town, with the objective of hitting the bell tower of the church of the other side. The rockets are wooden sticks loaded with an explosive mixture containing gunpowder and launched from grooved platforms.
Background[edit]
Rocket war
The two rival parishes are St. Mark’s and Panaghia Ereithiani, the respective churches built on two hilltops about 400 meters away from each other. Direct hits on each belfry are supposedly counted on the next day to determine the winner, but each parish invariably claims victory over the other. The result of this apparent disagreement is that both parishes agree to settle the score next year, and the rivalry is thus perpetuated. The church buildings themselves and the nearby buildings have to be extensively boarded up and protected with metal sheets and mesh for the occasion. Several Vrontadites regularly express their dismay at the explosive nature of the custom, but it is a source of significant tourist revenue for the area.
The origin of this event is unclear, but local tradition holds that it goes back to the Ottoman era. According to local lore it was earlier performed with real cannons, until Ottoman authorities prohibited their use in 1889.
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Speaking of commies how about what Sheldon Richman and antiwar.com fave Gareth Porter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Porter#Cambodia