Recent posts

#1

Gaming HQ / Re: The Miscellaneous PC & vid...

Last post by Syt - Today at 06:38:25 AM

It's something that I like about the Truck Sims games. They will generally include landmarks, but a lot of it (especially the road as "space between spaces") is very mundane and liminal. Finding that balance between "sightseeing tour" and a basic verisimilitude for locations is a challenge, I imagine. Contrast with e.g. the Forza Horizon series that presents idealized (and game-ified) fun world spaces as playgrounds for their players. Not the real Northern England or Mexico but the imagined postcard ideal of it.

#2

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 05:12:32 AM

He was a great guy, the second best president 

#3

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Crazy_Ivan80 - Today at 04:56:41 AM

Nah, it was the 45th President.

yeah, can only be that one

#4

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Solmyr - Today at 04:38:45 AM

Nah, it was the 45th President.

#5

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by jimmy olsen - Today at 04:19:31 AM

I could imagine Cheney possibly regretting this. But even that's a stretch

#6

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Norgy - Today at 03:56:43 AM

Must've been Carter, then. Uhm. No. He was an actual president of peace.

[Trump says a former president had an Iran confession. Aides to his predecessors deny recent contact]

#7

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Syt - Today at 03:54:11 AM

https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-war-former-president-confession-37d8ffa692903d41c47a85245244d971

Trump says a former president had an Iran confession. Aides to his predecessors deny recent contact

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twice on Monday, President Donald Trump said he'd wrangled a confession of sorts from an Oval Office predecessor who he said had expressed regret in a private conversation about not attacking Iran the way Trump has been doing for more than two weeks.

But there's just a little problem: Representatives for the four living former presidents — three Democrats and one Republican — said none have been in touch with Trump recently.

Trump declined to name the former president when reporters asked who it was, saying he didn't want to "embarrass him."

The Republican president first told the story during extended remarks about the Iran war as he opened a meeting of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center. Trump is chairman of the board and held the meeting at the White House.

He repeated that Iran had been a threat to the United States for decades but said he is the only president who had the courage to do something about it.

"Look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I'm doing, and they should have done it a long time ago," he said. "It would have been a lot easier. There's no president that wanted to do it.

"And yet every president knew. I've spoken to a certain president, who I like, actually, a past president, a former president. He said, 'I wish I did it, I wish I did,' but they didn't do it. I'm doing it," Trump continued.

Asked which former president he'd spoken to, Trump said: "I can't tell you that. I don't want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he's got no career."


Representatives for each of former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden said they had not spoken with Trump recently. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the former presidents' private conversations.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment after being informed that none of the former presidents said he had spoken with Trump recently.

Trump and all four past presidents were last together in the same space for his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 — well before the war.

He has been extremely critical of Biden and Obama, often saying Biden is the "worst president in the history of our country" and accusing Obama of negotiating a "horrible deal" with Iran over its nuclear weapons. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement the first time he was president.

But the Republican recently offered sympathetic comments about Clinton, saying it "bothers" him that the former president had been called to give a deposition to Congress about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"I liked Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton," Trump said in a Feb. 4 interview with NBC News. "I liked his behavior toward me. I thought he got me, he understood me."

Trump repeated his story about discussing Iran with a former president later Monday in the Oval Office, where he announced that Vice President JD Vance will lead a task force that was created to eliminate fraud in federal benefit programs.

"Was it George W. Bush?" a reporter asked.

"No," Trump said.

"Was it Bill Clinton?" the reporter asked.

Trump said: "I don't want to say. I don't want to say," then added that "it's somebody that happens to like me. And I like that person, who's a smart person. But that person said, 'I wish I did it,' OK, but I don't want to get into who, OK. I don't want to get them into trouble."

#8

Off the Record / Re: Star Wars Megathread

Last post by Syt - Today at 12:38:14 AM

Final trailer for Maul Shadowlord. Coming April 6.

[The Iran War Is Also Now a Semiconductor ProblemThe conflict is exposing the deep energy vulnerabilities of Korea's chip industry.]

#9

Off the Record / Re: Iran War?

Last post by Jacob - March 16, 2026, 10:58:38 PM

It looks like the Iran war is going to significantly impact South Koreas semi-conductor industry.

The Iran War Is Also Now a Semiconductor Problem
The conflict is exposing the deep energy vulnerabilities of Korea's chip industry.

The Iran conflict has triggered dramatic economic effects across the globe, but despite its location far away from the warzone, South Korea has felt outsized shocks. The country's stock market plunged 18 percent in just four trading days—the worst drop since the 2008 financial crisis—and wiped out more than $500 billion in market value as the energy security disruption has cascaded through Korea's semiconductor-heavy stock market.

But the market panic was only the surface symptom, exposing a deeper structural weakness in Korea's economy. South Korea suffers from a persistent energy vulnerability, and geopolitical shocks can quickly translate into acute economic pain. When these shocks threaten the conditions that allow major industries—particularly Korea's booming semiconductor trade—to operate smoothly, the entire economy feels it immediately.

In other words, the Iran war and closure of Hormuz did not create this problem. Instead, it revealed how a decades‑old dependence has become far more dangerous for an energy-poor economy.

Full article here: https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/03/iran-korea-semiconductor-chips-energy-oil-hormuz

#10

Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread

Last post by Zoupa - March 16, 2026, 10:04:18 PM

Well, we drew at Liverpool with 12 starters on the injury list... Could we stay up maybe?

Seems Burnley and Wolves are almost assured of going down. That leaves Leeds, Tottenham, Nottingham and West Ham, all within 3 points with 8 games to go.