Jan 232022
 

State Department reduces staff at US embassy in Ukraine, orders some family members to leave

“On January 23, 2022, the Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of US direct hire employees and ordered the departure of eligible family members from Embassy Kyiv due to the continued threat of Russian military action,” the State Department said in a statement. “US citizens in Ukraine should consider departing now using commercial or other privately available transportation options.”

Given the crappy job the State Department did in warning Americans to bug out of Afghanistan, this announcement is indicative of either “holy crap this is bad” or “let’s over-react.” I could go with either.

As an aside: I’ve always seen it spelled “Kiev.” When did it become “Kyiv?”

Anyway, I’m just glad that we have such stellar leadership just now, smart and awake like no administration ever before.

 Posted by at 11:28 pm
Jan 232022
 

And probably not for the reason you think…

A lot of the cultural depredations that have occurred in recent years, egged on by the cesspits of social media, might in some small way be reversed if massive lawsuits such as this, and Rittenhouse/Sandmann’s suits against the media, politicians and celebrities who slandered them, are successful. Lightening the wallets of fabulously rich individuals and organizations who think nothing of trying to destroy the lives and legacies of regular folk is a laudable goal, if a probably unlikely one.

 Posted by at 2:26 am
Jan 222022
 

Where some computer graphics experts try to figure out what’s going on in a 5-hour time lapse video that shows an anomalous high altitude *something.* Interesting to watch them go from “what could it be” to “oh, it’s probably this.”

 Posted by at 12:30 pm
Jan 212022
 

The world can usually be approximated to adequate accuracy with a small number of generally simply equations. Go this fast off a ramp at that angle, you will get so high, and land at such a distance. Easy. *Precise* trajectory can be calculated with more inputs… drag calculations, usually, adjustments for wind, that sort of thing. But for first approximations, the math is pretty easy.

Life is hard when you choose not to do the math.

Feel free to either wince or laugh. Either’s good. Both are good.

Shockingly, the guy didn’t die. At least not that time. But he did learn an important lesson: not doing the math *and* not having insurance? Why, that adds up to a million dollars in medical bills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh55zvXg8vE

But his record seems to indicate a lack of foresight. A prior set of “stunts” that resulted in… well, reality, good and hard.

 

 Posted by at 11:39 pm