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#1

Off the Record / Re: What does a BIDEN Presiden...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:39:20 AM

Fair props to her making a career out of the most basic of half arsed research. Wish I had such an ability.

#2

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:29:15 AM

The Russian push seems to have begun.

Hopefully not, there don't seem to be much (or any) buzz about it on Twitter at all.

#3

Gaming HQ / Re: PSA: Game Discounts

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:57:07 AM

I preferred F3 to be honest. The plot and setting just had more of a solid put together feel to it.
Though it maybe helped that I played it first and it had been years since Oblivion so it had some originally to it.

#4

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:46:36 AM

I wonder what happened with the F16s. There's been rumours for months that they're finally on the cusp of flying but.... no signs lately.
A while ago I recall reading Russia had held off on missile strikes for a while as it was stockpiling to hit F16 bases which it no longer seems to be doing.
Very curious.

Yeah, if those patriots show up in Ukraine - and soon - that'd be grand.

Are they still useful against drones and Russia's hypersonic missiles or does Ukraine need something more advanced?  There has to be a reason why Israel needs something more sophisticated too, I suppose.

From what I gather with Israel the main reason for the switch is Iron Dome being domestically made.
Ukraine has really highlighted Patriot is missile hungry and the supply just isn't there on the import market to keep going for long.

#5

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by HVC - Today at 02:40:10 AM

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action"


Let's see if a third happens

#6

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:36:46 AM

Election results coming in.
The byelection in Blackpool was quite a wonderful smash.

Locally, the Greens have done surprisingly well- only 2 seats but lots of second place finishes. Interestingly their wins come in areas I wouldn't have expected, one in a muslim heavy bit of the roughest part of the west end, the beyond doubt worst part of town, and the other in Byker, which again is a pretty deprived part of the east end. Not at all the middle class sort of place you'd expect of them.
My local Green came a respectable second.
I haven't been following the local Greens at all, no literature or door knocks from them, so I really wonder what they've been up to.

The bit of bad news I see is in Gosforth, one of the poshest parts of the city, where by 3% over the Lib Dems this cunt won for the Tories:



My GF has a foreign friend who lives in the area who voted for him. From what I hear second hand she was impressed that he has spent 5 years knocking on doors and wrote her name on the letter that came through her door.
Which....well yes respect the effort that goes into campaigning but when its for evil goals?
This woman doesn't even have a car! The better pedestrian access on the street is a massive benefit for her with the pushchair.

The big one, the mayor, is due out at dinner time. But vibes are positive it should be either official Labour or left Labour so....good vibes all round.

[Second Boeing whistleblower dies after short illnessJoshua Dean, 45, former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, alleged 'gross misconduct by quality management']

#7

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Syt - Today at 02:26:42 AM

Second Boeing whistleblower this year has died:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/02/second-boeing-whistleblower-dies

Second Boeing whistleblower dies after short illness
Joshua Dean, 45, former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, alleged 'gross misconduct by quality management'

Joshua Dean, a Boeing whistleblower who warned of manufacturing defects in the planemaker's 737 Max, has died after a short illness, the second Boeing whistleblower to die this year.

Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging "serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line" at Spirit.

In 2018 and 2019, two 737 Max planes were involved in fatal crashes, which killed 346 people. Dean was fired by Spirit last year, and filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging that his termination was in retaliation for raising safety concerns.

According to the Seattle Times, Dean was hospitalized after having trouble breathing. He was intubated and developed pneumonia and a serious infection before dying two weeks later.

"He passed away yesterday morning, and his absence will be deeply felt. We will always love you Josh," Dean's aunt, Carol Dean Parsons, said via Facebook.

Dean was represented by the same law firm that represented Boeing whistleblower John "Mitch" Barnett. Barnett, 62, was found dead in March from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Barnett spent almost three decades at Boeing, and told the New York Times in 2019 that he had found "clusters or metal slivers" hanging over the wiring of flight controls that could have caused "catastrophic" damage if they had penetrated wires.

He alleged that management had ignored his complaints and moved him to another part of the plant.

Last month, another Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, told Congress there was "no safety culture" at Boeing, and alleged that employees who raised the alarm were "ignored, marginalized, threatened, sidelined and worse". He said he feared "physical violence" after going public with his concerns.

US regulators are now investigating Boeing after a mid-air door-panel blowout in January on a Boeing 737 Max 9.

Reuters reported last month that the justice department is now weighing whether Boeing violated an agreement that shielded it from criminal prosecution over the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

From Seattle Times:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/whistleblower-josh-dean-of-boeing-supplier-spirit-aerosystems-has-died/

Parsons said Dean became ill and went to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing just over two weeks ago. He was intubated and developed pneumonia and then a serious bacterial infection, MRSA.

His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was airlifted from Wichita to a hospital in Oklahoma City, Parsons said. There he was put on an ECMO machine, which circulates and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, taking over heart and lung function when a patient's organs don't work on their own.

#8

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Syt - Today at 02:13:22 AM

Was looking up something about Fred Armisen, and was actually fascinated by his "Early Life" entry in Wikipedia.

Armisen was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on December 4, 1966, the son of schoolteacher Hildegardt Mirabal Level and IBM employee Fereydun Herbert Armisen.[4] He moved with his family to New York as a baby,[5] and briefly lived in Brazil in his youth. He was raised in Valley Stream, New York,[5] where he was a classmate of fellow SNL alumnus Jim Breuer.[6] He attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan[7] before dropping out to begin a career as a rock drummer.[5] He said that he was inspired to perform after seeing The Clash and Devo perform on television, and wanted to be a performer since he was a child.[8]

Armisen's mother was Venezuelan, born in San Fernando de Apure,[9][10][11] while his father was born in Soltau to a German mother and Korean father.[11][12] For much of his life, Armisen thought his paternal grandfather Ehara Masami was Japanese; however, Masami (better known by his professional name Masami Kuni or birth name Park Yeong-in)[11][13] was actually Korean and came from Ulsan; he adopted a Japanese name and persona after the massacre of Koreans in 1923 when he was a high school student.[14][11] Park studied aesthetics at Tokyo Imperial University and became a professional dancer before moving to Germany.[15][13] After the war, he returned to Japan, and formed a premier modern dance company. He eventually emigrated to the US, where he taught dance at what is now Cal State Fullerton from 1964 to 1975.[13][12] Park Yeong-in's family were members of the Korean aristocracy, and Armisen's Korean lineage can be verifiably traced back to the 1600s.

His mother has an extremely stereotypical German first name, yet his dad is the one born in Soltau, Germany. And that's before diving into his dad's family history.

#9

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by The Brain - Today at 12:15:28 AM

Ivy Ken

The Barbie movie wasn't real FFS. Plus George Washington University isn't Ivy League.

#10

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by viper37 - May 02, 2024, 11:29:09 PM

The Russian push seems to have begun.

Russia is [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]advancing along multiple parts of the eastern frontline in [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]Ukraine[/color] but local defenders are so far holding against the [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]Kremlin[/color]'s bigger and better-equipped forces, Ukrainian military officials say.[/font][/size][/color]

As a [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]recently-passed $61 billion (£49bn) US weapons package arrives in stages in Ukraine following six months of delay, Russian forces are looking to capitalise on a current manpower and artillery advantage to take further territory before the foreign aid diminishes their edge. It comes after [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Srysky[/color] admitted over the weekend that "the situation on the frontline has worsened".[/font][/size][/color]

Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesperson for Ukrainian strategic command in the east of the country, said on Thursday that Russian forces have amassed tens of thousands of troops in recent weeks in the eastern region of Donetsk, as part of a bid to push in twp areas, including [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]the city of Chasiv Yar and the town of Ocheretyne.[/font][/size][/color]

Mr Voloshyn said on national television: "The enemy is trying to seize the strategic initiative and breach our defence.
"The enemy is actively attacking along the entire front line, and in several directions they have achieved certain tactical advances. The situation is changing dynamically."

Ukraine's difficulties have been deepening for months as the military waited for vital new military aid from the US.

Russian forces [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]took the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk in mid-February after a decade of fighting in that area. Since then, they have taken 11 towns to the north and northwest of the city, according to Ukrainian war tracker DeepState.[/font][/size][/color]

Ukrainian soldiers and analysts warned then that the advances were probable given poor primary defensive fortifications; they warn now that similar issues could lead to further Russian gains nearby, though they say more is being done to remedy the problem.
In Chasiv Yar, a small city with a prewar population of 12,000, roughly 50 miles north of Avdiivka, Russian forces are dropping more than 30 powerful glide bombs a day, according to a spokesperson for the 26th Artillery Brigade deployed in the city. They have also amassed more than 25,000 soldiers for an attack on the city, which sits on high ground and is a natural launching point for further attacks in Donetsk.
Both sides are currently battling for control over two villages downhill of the city's flanks, with Russian troops so far unable to enter Chasiv Yar.
But while they took nearly a year to advance less than four miles from nearby Bakhmut to the edge of Chasiv Yar, they pushed nearly five miles in the last fortnight to capture the village of Ocheretyne nearby.

Tatarigami, a Ukrainian war tracker with close ties to the military, warns that Russian forces may now look to launch a "multi-echelon double-pincer move" from Chasiv Yar in the north of Donetsk and Ocheretyne further south to encircle the Ukrainian troops fighting in that bulge in the frontline.

[...]

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