โOne of the most violentโ Jan. 6 rioters receives a 20-year prison sentence.
So the January 6 insurrectionists weren’t just tourists out for a stroll in the Capitol building? Imagine that.
Day: August 9, 2024, 6:06 PM
Not a Feminist Or an Ally
I think when I first started tuning out of modern feminism was on a feminist blog in 2010 or so when the main poster and the commenters (all women) were talking about how hot and sexy 16-year-old Justin Bieber was and how much they wanted to bed him. Tellingly, the same posters and commenters were eager to condemn any relationship among grown-ass adults with even a 2-3 year age gap.
That told me all I needed to know. They had no principles. And were also creepy af. Their feminism was all about dating/mating competition elimination among their cohort while their being “good” in their eyes gave them permission to do whatever they wanted to do — up to and including sexually abusing a minor.
I don’t want a thing to do with any of that kind of feminism. And it was already on the ascent, but is now the dominant strain of infection.
Loss
That’s probably accurate. It also matches the US and UK estimates. Note that “combat losses” include killed and injured enough to not return to combat. Probably 120-200K KIA. I’d put that on the high end, probably 200K or even more.
So much for that 30 day special military operation Ian Welsh insists Russia is handily winning!
To MARS
Ukrainian HIMARS Strike on a large Russian convoy.
Don’t be deceived; those are all hits. The missiles that the HIMARS fires* have a very, very large shrapnel radius. It’s classified but it’s probably around 600M for likely significant damage. Those things seriously fuck shit up in other words. Here is the battle damage assessment. Note that there is no gore, but a lot dead Russian soldiers and/or mercs in the backs of those trucks.
By the way, that is an remarkable feat; those missiles cannot be guided in flight. They can only hit a spot provided by GPS in advance. That means the Ukrainians had to do all of these things very, very quickly:
1) Have recon and drone overwatch in place and ready.
2) Determine the convoy’s current location.
3) Determine its likely continued path.
4) Determine its likely forward speed.
5) Get the launch coordinates dialed in and confirmed.
6) Launch missiles at the spot the convoy would be in the future.
To do all that and hit a convoy in motion it had to have been done in about five minutes. In military terms, that is insanely fast.
*The HIMARS system can fire various munitions. Those were probably M30A2s.
Gold Rhythm
Could not find a better-quality version that has her full Olympics routine. That’s amazing, though. She makes it look so smooth. I watched some of her older routines and she’s much, much better than she used to be. Cool to see that.
All [eye] cones contain a pigment molecule consisting of a curved chain of amino acids. When this molecule absorbs a photon, a double bond snaps, causing the chain to straighten and the molecule to change shape. This seemingly trivial incident, lasting just 200 millionths of a billionth of a second, underpins all human vision.
James Fox, The World According to Color
Curly
Never thought curling could be this intense.
I love curling. In fact, it’s the only winter sport I like or would want to participate in. I happened to catch it on ESPN in the middle of night when I was 8 or 9. The announcers never said what it was called and I didn’t know because I’d never found it in any books (my only real source of knowledge then).
Later on, I tried describing it to my parents so they could tell me what it was but they thought I was making it up. (“And there were people with brushes on ice with round weights and they clean the ice ahead of the weight.”) It all sounds like utter nonsense when you tell someone about it.
I eventually found out its name when I caught it again on ESPN and the announcer happened to say it.
Rosa
Model’s name is Rosa. This was taken in Seattle, photographer unknown. But I lived there so I recognize the skyline. I like that she looks genuinely happy. And has beautiful red hair.
Just a warning (which I won’t put on every post like this): If you click “Show More” below, you will see someone naked.
Sada Ca – Sarkeshi/แกแแ แแแจแ
The language is Georgian. Good song.
Statistical Drivel
One of the things I like about Hacker News is that it’s just full of the most massive tardbiscuits around, but ones who are still relatively literate. The reason I like this unfortunate state of affairs is that it shows that performing well on de facto tests of verbal and mathematical ability does not actually mean there is any wisdom present.
Much like ChatGPT et al. Aella (I think) said that most people are ChatGPT most of the time. I believe she is correct. “Smart” people mostly in fact are not all that smart.
Montreean
Mondrian’s tree paintings are so good; much better than his more-famous blocks stuff:
What are the Olympics Shooting Competitors Wearing On Their Faces?
On Ancient Stars (and a Thought on SETI).
Robot Dog With Gun Turret For Hunting Aerial Drones Being Tested By Army.
Giant, Sparkly Clams Hide the Most Efficient Solar Panels Ever Found.
How tariffs on China could help the world.
Harris and Walz seize on joyful message in contrast to darker Trump themes. This is the right approach.
Tony Soprano and Robert Nozick.
The Battle Over Institutions. A challenge to democracyโs infrastructure.
The Inside Story of the University of the Artsโs Stunning Collapse.
Emily White was dragged for predicting the future of music streaming 12 years ago. Where is she now? It never, ever pays to be right. Except in the stock market.
10 reasons why AI may be overrated. Very overrated.