Anecdote time, feel free to SKIP

My buddy’s humvee got tagged by an rpg during desert storm, everyone inside lived but most were injured. He got away with shrapnel embedded in his arm for most of the next two or three days until it all got removed. Apparently his elbow got it pretty bad.

Fast forward to 98, he’s basically lost feeling in two of his fingers except hot/cold and pressure. “it’s not service related”

2005, most of his hand is partially numb. “it’s not service related”

2013, he has no feeling below the elbow, except sharp pain and extreme hot/cold. “it’s not service related”

2015, he has deadeend feeling from his shoulder to his elbow. “it’s not service related.”

2017, he has difficulty moving his hand now unless he’s looking at it. Spatial awareness is gone. Elbow down completely numb. Shoulder down almost completely numb.

2017, two months later, for seemingly no reason. “It’s service related. You’re on 100% disability. You have 24 hours to quit your job.”

Yeah but like… That’s mildly irritating.

Life would never be the same.

It’s about equally as effective.

Legitimately, I’ve been feeling like I’m just a jaded cynic because my first thought after seeing the videos was “yeah, 100% they got paid or encouraged to do this by someone in the IDF/Government/mossad in order to continue the victim narrative they love to play nowadays”

Like… Maybe I’m just a shitty person, but it feels like the government of Israel really wants the world to equate the government with the people, and the country with all jews everywhere. So if you criticize one, you clearly must hate ALL of them, and therefore you are no better than a nazi in WW2.

It’s the same society that just elected a fascist dictator-wannabe. No matter how many intelligent people you know, there’s enough to do that.

Maybe warning labels were a mistake…

It’s gonna be peak face-eating season during holidays when my parents go to retire during this presidency but find out that they can’t because social security doesn’t exist anymore, 75% of their paycheck goes to either the military budget or kings tribute tax, and everything has doubled in price.

Trump has said… for whatever that’s worth.

His words are worth their weight in gold!

It’s a wee bit out of my bailiwick, sad to say. Their “hobby smarts” are my “oh my god this is the most concentration I’ve ever had to use to figure something out smarts” although regular astronomy is a hobby I can never get enough of

All I’ve got for now is a tiny 4in newtonian , and though I do want to upgrade, it’s on the back burner for a few years while all my other expenses are sorted.

Still orders of magnitude better than the refractor I used to have.

you wouldn’t treat a broken ankle with strong painkillers and continue walking as if nothing was wrong just because it doesn’t hurt anymore - would you?

Of course not! We limp around trying to keep it from hurting, praying to any deity that will listen and some that won’t that it heals before you have to pay for a visit to urgent care.

The pills are just to help us go to work while we mentally figure out how many meals we will be skipping to pay for it.

Now ask me if I’m joking.

I wonder if this is also one of those genetic things like cilantro, because ibuprofen tastes nasty as fuck to me. Like “bitter and my tongue wants to cut itself off to stop the taste even after a drink” nasty.

You mean the thing that we keep getting reminded every single year is a scam, was always a scam, and never had any intentions other than to delay anyone pushing actual regulations with a pinky promise to do better “eventually”…

That maybe the companies are… Lying to us?

Do you really think a company, the pinnacle of honest capitalism, would ever lie for short term profits?

Perish the thought!

Daily reminder that the moral high ground is littered with corpses.

Honestly this was my first thought.

“sounds like the DOD wanted to test if anyone would notice they moved something with the X37”

Never underestimate how far amateur radio telescope operators will go for a clean sky.

The OG most wanted is hands down my favorite of all time.

I dropped $40 just to play on my Xbox around 10 years ago.

I’d buy it again if I didn’t already have it installed.

There’s a couple of these on a trail near me, and although the bollards can just be pulled out of the ground, they used to be padlocked.

Some people who use cargo bikes to shop couldn’t get through, so the city removed the locks.

The bollards are still there, but if you need to get through you can just lift it out, mosey on by, and then replace it. The middle one is made out of hollow aluminum I think, so it’s a lot lighter than the other solid steel ones. You can still lift those out, just not one handed.

Up until then, the cargo bikes were just hopping off the trail and cycling along next to the trail on the other side of the fence, which was only about 200-300ft long on either side of the bollards.

IMPORTANT PROTIP

Side-arm molotovs, don’t throw them over your back like you would a baseball.

Unless you know exactly how to make a watertight molotov, there’s the possibility that you drip burning fluid onto yourself if you throw it up and over your body.

By throwing side-arm (around and out to the side, almost like a Frisbee) you fling any liquid away from you.

It’s also a good idea to make sure nobody is standing to your side that you could potentially douse in flames.

Happy tossing, and remember to only use this knowledge for educational purposes!

“You are not allowed to use the law to block human trafficking” - A judge in the US

I’m not saying laws are inherently just and good, this just isn’t a good look.

On par, though.

Honestly, if you mounted some of these on a couple 1kw e-bikes with fat tires and suspension for better off-roading, you could get some nice hit-and-run squads, assuming you could clear or detect area-denial weapons.

Mount an MG on one, a recoil less rifle on another, maybe some form of rocket launcher for heavier armor.

It’s not going to take over any countries, but a fast attack force that can clear rough terrain quickly is worth it’s weight in gold.

5 bicycle boys vs 10000000 Gen 5 tanks and 27 lions, who wins?