The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
Le multitasking
L'overload cognitif
Actually learnt a new phrase in French today: la surcharge cognitive
It's is hard to say which was more barking - British of French tank design between the wars.
From the ONS: "The age distribution of those receiving an inheritance is quite different from those receiving a gift or loan. Inheritances become more common as individuals age, with a peak in receipt among those aged 55 to 64 years. This is consistent with Gardiner (2017), who estimated, based on parents’ life expectancies, that the most common age at which today’s 20- to 35-year-olds in the UK will inherit is age 61 years (PDF, 482KB). "
Thanks for the constructive and helpful contribution to the discussion (not being sarcastic).
It does assume that inheritances only go to children rather than grandchildren. And, of course, the bank of mum and dad comes into its own at the point of inheritance.
True. Reading the study, however, it looks as though two-thirds of all inheritance money flows directly from the late parent to the adult children.
It's a mixed picture, though: more millennials will actually inherit more money than previous generations (due to rising house prices) - but, crucially, not until late in life (age 61, as said, being the most common age).
"Even those who can expect to get a share of parental property wealth will get it far later than is optimal. Because of the challenges of releasing wealth from properties that are being lived in, it’s reasonable to expect that these assets will mainly be passed down in inheritances rather than gifts. Based on their parents’ life expectancies, we estimate that the most common age at which 20-35 year olds inherit will be 61. This means that wealth boosts will come not at the expensive child-rearing stage when a larger home is more necessary, but when they are approaching retirement."
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars
I bet you are a wow at dinner parties.
Women have been known to faint dead way at my explanation of the magazine design of the Chauchat mg.
Does anyone have any data on the Covid risks for the very old (85+) and the, er, immuno-compromised?
Imagine they are both jabbed to the eyeballs
2x friends of, etc have severe COPD and in their eighties. Both got it. Both had no idea they had it until they tested (for family visits). So my sample n=2 is reassuring.
Mr. Leon, while I agree that looks dubiouski it's worth noting genuine typos can be horrendous.
[I once wrote 'caught' instead of 'got'].
There are various types of dyslexia, which can include homophones (conflating similar sounds), and conflating similar meanings. If someone's unlucky enough to have both, that can mean they want to write 'chair' but the sound similarity shifts to 'hair' and the meaning similarity means they end up writing 'fur'.
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
If accurate and Ukrainian army clams do seem to have been mostly reasonably close to the truth then this is the first significant encirclement of Russian forces so far (I think that right?)
Are the Ukrainians going to be able to hold the encirclement? which is another way of saying 'do the Russians have enough combat power to force a brake out' I don't know. perhaps the Russians with be able to use there supremacy in the air to resupply or reinforce, again TBC. but perhaps we will see the first large scale surending of Russian Troops.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars
I bet you are a wow at dinner parties.
Women have been known to faint dead way at my explanation of the magazine design of the Chauchat mg.
Probably at the implication that it was designed. rather than happened.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
From the ONS: "The age distribution of those receiving an inheritance is quite different from those receiving a gift or loan. Inheritances become more common as individuals age, with a peak in receipt among those aged 55 to 64 years. This is consistent with Gardiner (2017), who estimated, based on parents’ life expectancies, that the most common age at which today’s 20- to 35-year-olds in the UK will inherit is age 61 years (PDF, 482KB). "
Thanks for the constructive and helpful contribution to the discussion (not being sarcastic).
It does assume that inheritances only go to children rather than grandchildren. And, of course, the bank of mum and dad comes into its own at the point of inheritance.
True. Reading the study, however, it looks as though two-thirds of all inheritance money flows directly from the late parent to the adult children.
It's a mixed picture, though: more millennials will actually inherit more money than previous generations (due to rising house prices) - but, crucially, not until late in life (age 61, as said, being the most common age).
"Even those who can expect to get a share of parental property wealth will get it far later than is optimal. Because of the challenges of releasing wealth from properties that are being lived in, it’s reasonable to expect that these assets will mainly be passed down in inheritances rather than gifts. Based on their parents’ life expectancies, we estimate that the most common age at which 20-35 year olds inherit will be 61. This means that wealth boosts will come not at the expensive child-rearing stage when a larger home is more necessary, but when they are approaching retirement."
And of course when not needed. My father would rather leave money to me than spend it. Yet I am approximately 10 times wealthier than him and don't need it now. When I needed it then so did he.
This whinge definitely fails the "what if he'd done the opposite" test.
The interesting question is why he had to change the schedule of his tyrant arse-kissing trip at the last minute. The date of his wife's birthday can't have been a surprise.
It was a great excuse to curtail a meeting with unsavoury people. Beats putting the cat out.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
Le multitasking
L'overload cognitif
Actually learnt a new phrase in French today: la surcharge cognitive
"90% of comments I see about iSage are people complaining about them having the oxygen of publicity."
They're a self-appointed group of politicians with left-wing leanings. Annoyed that no one else recognises their expertise. They should call themselves pSage for political Sage.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
Le multitasking
L'overload cognitif
Actually learnt a new phrase in French today: la surcharge cognitive
It's is hard to say which was more barking - British of French tank design between the wars.
vs
On a point of PB pedantry, the TOG (hte UK one) was designed in 1939 onwards [edit] with detail design beginning after the war started - disgraceful waste of resources but perhaps necessary to keep the old men of The Old Gang away from modern tank design.
The only mention I can see to IFR for Omicron being 3% for oldies is an guess from January based on no actual evidence of Omicron or vs triple jab etc. You don't normally get good model of IFR for a quite a while after the wave as it take a long time to try and get to the bottom of infection vs cases etc.
Mr. Farooq, it seems faintly bizarre to me that you're dismissing the importance of real people (as opposed to deliberate provoking sorts) and bots.
Of course that matters. That's the whole point.
Reproducing my words because your habit of replying without quoting can sometimes lead to confusion: I think you're missing the point. Whether these are real people or bots, the overlap between Brexit/antiwoke and the (sadly predictable) misogyny and abuse is the thing. The people sending these tweets understand their audience to be receptive to this kind of hatred. These attitudes are correlated. That tells us something, it is useful information not to be lightly dismissed.
My point is that there is a perception that the intended audience will be receptive to these messages. People tend to follow those who reinforce their own view -- the famous "echo chamber" -- and the messaging coming from these accounts therefore tells us something about the audience. And even if you want to think about the subset of accounts sending these messages that are bots (I think it's safe to say there will be a mix of bots and real people), there are still PEOPLE behind those bots deciding what message to send, and the decisions they make very much depend on which messages will land well with which targets.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars
I bet you are a wow at dinner parties.
Nothing wrong with the Char B1. Just the French had all the wrong doctrine about how to use it.
Does anyone have any data on the Covid risks for the very old (85+) and the, er, immuno-compromised?
Imagine they are both jabbed to the eyeballs
Just on hospitalisation, but from data in Canada, it looks like this (versus Omicron):
Historically, fatality rates have been between a quarter and a half of the hospitalisation rates (higher for the older and more at risk; lower for younger and less at risk). This rate against hospitalisation has been reducing as better treatments become available.
If the at-risk person takes Paxlovid within 5 days of onset of symptoms, hospitalisation and fatality chances both reduce by almost exactly a factor of ten.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
Le multitasking
BTW, that Maxim which someone used to pimp his wheels on the previous thread - where/when was that photo taken? Somalia?
It's an old Sov one, the variant with the water filler cap replaced by a tractor cap so you can cram in snow when the cooling water begins to boil away.
The original caption said in use by militants in Ukraine (war in Donbass). I believe there are quite a few about eg
If it's anything like the Vickers (basically the same design) it probably lasts for almost ever if well maintained. Must go and fish out my book on the thing to read up about it ...
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Golly, I’ve not been keeping up, can an MBT get away with only 3 crew? I recall at least one of the Russian tanks has automatic loading for the main gun, the T80 I guess.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars and they tended to go for one man turrets (ie the commander had to do a helluva lot) because of the manpower shortage after WWI.
Yes. In one of them (the Char B family) the main gun was fixed in the hull, no traverse, so the driver did the aiming and firing as well as the driving (admittedly with a continuously variable oil-hydraulic transmission if memory serves, though I might be wrong on that point). One other chap loaded the main gun in between. I think the fourth just sat around and handed the commander ammunition when the commander wasn't too busy aiming and firing his own turret cannon [edit], commanding and keeping on top of situational awareness. Not the most balanced workforce ever. Can't recall who operated the radio ...
Le multitasking
L'overload cognitif
Actually learnt a new phrase in French today: la surcharge cognitive
While Cameron has one famous quote about Twitter, another telling line of his was that Twitter is not Britain.
And for that, we should be grateful.
I think you're missing the point. Whether these are real people or bots, the overlap between Brexit/antiwoke and the (sadly predictable) misogyny and abuse is the thing. The people sending these tweets understand their audience to be receptive to this kind of hatred. These attitudes are correlated. That tells us something, it is useful information not to be lightly dismissed.
Yes, finding bots is orthogonal to my point. We all agree bots exist and it's an important part of the wider conversation. It's just not really much to do with the point I'm making.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
It will mostly likely be similar to the "widespread" racist abuse of the England footballers who missed penalties in the Euros. There will be some, massively amplified by bad actors e.g. How many people have actually been convicted of racist tweets from that incident, I think it is a handful.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
Funnily enough, Minsk is the site of one of the larger and more notorious troll farms. Or was a few years ago, at least. Doubtless directed by the Russian state, of course.
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
Wasn't there something a few weeks ago to do with blocking Russian activity that saw a dramatic drop in these type of tweets.
Yes, that's how British people describe themselves
This is laughable. We are being played by Russia. Calm the F down
I can't help thinking the Russians bots have got their tactics wrong here. Shouldn't they be generating sympathy for Nazanin while portraying Boris as a bumbling incompetent imbecile. All this is simply deflecting criticism from the saviour of Ukraine.
Mr. Farooq, the internet has so many people on it that you'll find support for anything, and bots can easily hyperinflate 'likes' and suchlike. Not only in favour of a daft side, but against it and broadening it to attack a larger group (hence attacking pro-EU types as being xenophobes or anti-EU types as being unpatriotic, something which did, sadly, probably also occur naturally).
All they do is say something daft and watch arguments start and balloon.
Anyway, I am going to veer in the approximate direction of work.
The first Russian soldier to hand over a fully-working T-80 tank to the Ukrainians. He will get $10k after the war, and can apply for Ukrainian citizenship.
I wonder if he killed the other two crew.
Been reading a bit about French tank design between the wars
I bet you are a wow at dinner parties.
Women have been known to faint dead way at my explanation of the magazine design of the Chauchat mg.
Suddenly realised I'd never seen film of one in operation. SO I had a shufti.
Yes, that's how British people describe themselves
This is laughable. We are being played by Russia. Calm the F down
I can't help thinking the Russians bots have got their tactics wrong here. Shouldn't they be generating sympathy for Nazanin while portraying Boris as a bumbling incompetent imbecile. All this is simply deflecting deflecting criticism from the saviour of Ukraine.
The modius operandi of the Russian troll farms isn't always to push a single particular narrative, rather to cause disharmony e.g. in the US, it is well known their Facebook group tactics e.g. they ran black Christian groups and white Christian groups, etc etc etc, and they would then group in here is a story about a nice black church goer who was racially abused, and in the white group, one about a nice white church goers attacked by black individual.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing the same here, push the ungrateful angle to some, push the look at what she actually said about how useless Boris is to others.
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
Wonder how many Russians are in the (claimed pocket)?
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Really? I find this almost impossible to believe. Where is 'round here'? Masking is a rare enough sight on London buses now, never mind in restaurants. And as for postponing events, er, what? Nothing is being postponed here. Life is back to normal.
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
It will mostly likely be similar to the "widespread" racist abuse of the England footballers who missed penalties in the Euros. There will be some, massively amplified by bad actors e.g. How many people have actually been convicted of racist tweets from that incident, I think it is a handful.
My guess is that the actual number of REAL people saying "ungrateful cow" is pretty damn small. It has been taken up by bots who have multiplied it by 100s. And they've got a reaction from the left, and so an entire divisive and confected row has exploded over Twitter, which is basically all created by Russia
This is a real problem, for all in the West, on every side
I remember that SNP bot that said outrageous things, which made the Nat cause look bad, until we investigated and found out she, too, was fake
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Certainly mask wearing in the shopping and recreational areas has disappeared and noticeably much less in the shops as well
I find mask wearing 'universal' a bit hard to credit Nick. Even in leafy Warminster's Waitrose we are down to about 20% max wearing a mask. Are you living in a town of 80 year olds with no immune system?
His post presents as a work of complete fiction, but perhaps there is an enclave somewhere in the Surrey Hills where it is forever 2020.
Mr. Farooq, the internet has so many people on it that you'll find support for anything, and bots can easily hyperinflate 'likes' and suchlike. Not only in favour of a daft side, but against it and broadening it to attack a larger group (hence attacking pro-EU types as being xenophobes or anti-EU types as being unpatriotic, something which did, sadly, probably also occur naturally).
All they do is say something daft and watch arguments start and balloon.
Anyway, I am going to veer in the approximate direction of work.
Au revoir, mes amis.
As PoliticsForAll showed, if you know how to play the algorithm right, you can generate huge expose with what was thought to be a pretty simple setup and a few bot accounts.
I read the other day for instance that at one point you got pumped by the algorithm if you put famous people's handle in your tweet, then they changed it to as long as not the start, now it more like to get pumped if you write a thread and the handles are in the second or third tweet of the thread.
I would guess that all the "flashing siren" emoji stuff at one point got you pumped. And I notice loads of people now latched on to that.
"90% of comments I see about iSage are people complaining about them having the oxygen of publicity."
They're a self-appointed group of politicians with left-wing leanings. Annoyed that no one else recognises their expertise. They should call themselves pSage for political Sage.
I think CSage (Commie Sage or Corbyn's Sage) would be better.
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
Wonder how many Russians are in the (claimed pocket)?
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
Someone who appears to know more about this stuff than I do, claims the Ukrainian tactic is to reoccupy pockets of territory near the Russian positions, which has the twin purpose of temporarily cutting supply lines and forcing the Russians to expend their resources on winning those areas back. They are not intended to be permanent positions.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
Do you want the lefties to be as angry as you are about Remoaners trying to thwart Brexit back in the day, or not quite that angry?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/how-democracy-can-win-ukraine/627125/ ...Before you can achieve something, you have to imagine what it will look like. And in this war, victory can be imagined without difficulty. It means that Ukraine remains a sovereign democracy, with the right to choose its own leaders and make its own treaties. There will be no pro-Russian puppet regime in Kyiv, no need for a prolonged Ukrainian resistance, no continued fighting. The Russian army retreats back over the borders. Maybe those borders could change, or maybe Ukraine could pledge neutrality, but that is for the Ukrainians to decide and not for outsiders to dictate. Maybe international peacekeepers are needed. Whatever happens, Ukraine must have strong reasons to believe that Russian troops will not quickly return...
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
So after a month of fighting to get in, they could end up fighting to get out. Don't stop til you get to Moscow, Russian lads. And when you get there, do the world a favour.
For the most part, I find the heavy metal music soundtracks to the twitter videos of Russian tanks and soldiers being hit hard to stomach (without in any way being a criticism of the Ukrainians doing it - they have been provoked beyond my comprehension).
One video had a soundtrack of Wir trinken zusammen which I think is entirely appropriate to what the Ukrainians are doing. Here are the lyrics:
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
Do you want the lefties to be as angry as you are about Remoaners trying to thwart Brexit back in the day, or not quite that angry?
My head is spinning. Can someone tell me what I'm supposed to be angry about please? Currently I'm laid back about culture wars and just a bit miffed about Brexit.
He looks much more plausible. He's done many tweets. But on examination all of them are curiously anodyne: endless retweets about animal adoptions, or meals he has cooked (noticeably, without anything personal in the shot nothing that might identify who he is, if he exists)
About every tenth or twentieth tweet he will say something controversial. Either anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, or anti-vax. He's really anti-vax. He also goes on about Epstein and other "conspiracies" - true or not
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
The 'duh' must be fair then, as I now have no idea what you are talking about whatsoever!
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
So after a month of fighting to get in, they could end up fighting to get out. Don't stop til you get to Moscow, Russian lads. And when you get there, do the world a favour.
For the most part, I find the heavy metal music soundtracks to the twitter videos of Russian tanks and soldiers being hit hard to stomach (without in any way being a criticism of the Ukrainians doing it - they have been provoked beyond my comprehension).
One video had a soundtrack of Wir trinken zusammen which I think is entirely appropriate to what the Ukrainians are doing. Here are the lyrics:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/how-democracy-can-win-ukraine/627125/ ...Before you can achieve something, you have to imagine what it will look like. And in this war, victory can be imagined without difficulty. It means that Ukraine remains a sovereign democracy, with the right to choose its own leaders and make its own treaties. There will be no pro-Russian puppet regime in Kyiv, no need for a prolonged Ukrainian resistance, no continued fighting. The Russian army retreats back over the borders. Maybe those borders could change, or maybe Ukraine could pledge neutrality, but that is for the Ukrainians to decide and not for outsiders to dictate. Maybe international peacekeepers are needed. Whatever happens, Ukraine must have strong reasons to believe that Russian troops will not quickly return...
Agree with this. And also the reason why I think we need to prioritise the viability, and hopefully the eventual success, of Ukraine over defeating Russia.
Russia does need to be defeated and seen to be defeated to impose an unsustainable cost on similar brutality. But that comes second and could take a long time.
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Where are you Nick? Buckinghamshire? I am seeing almost no-one wearing masks in supermarkets, restaurants or shops. And certainly no curb in social activity at all. Saturday night in Nottingham was absolutely heaving. And masks were almost non existent both in the restaurants and at the Theatre Royal.
- Cash, jewellery, drugs regularly 'go missing'. Access code for one store was scribbled on the door
- Over 100 new recruits have previous convictions for crimes including theft
Over 200 warrant cards missing, too.
Seems odd. A crime and policing commisioner in Wiltshire was disbarred after election because of a traffic offence, yet the Met employs people with convictions for theft?
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
Wonder how many Russians are in the (claimed pocket)?
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
Someone who appears to know more about this stuff than I do, claims the Ukrainian tactic is to reoccupy pockets of territory near the Russian positions, which has the twin purpose of temporarily cutting supply lines and forcing the Russians to expend their resources on winning those areas back. They are not intended to be permanent positions.
I have no special knowledge of either the situation on the ground nor Ukrainian tactics, but it would strike me that they do have an interest in pushing back Russian artillery out of range of the core of Kyiv and holding that regained ground. Not sure that that pertains in this case, but as a general principle it would seem a good idea.
"90% of comments I see about iSage are people complaining about them having the oxygen of publicity."
They're a self-appointed group of politicians with left-wing leanings. Annoyed that no one else recognises their expertise. They should call themselves pSage for political Sage.
I think CSage (Commie Sage or Corbyn's Sage) would be better.
Perhaps we (PB) should setup iStupid. We can provide people to pontificate on any subject - at half the price. At least we will be honest about the value in our witterings.
That's interesting, if confusing as HE already co-operates https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/about with its sister agencies in the other nations. On fuirther examination BFA (which I use a great deal) is of course the Aerofilms collection but this new databse seems to include other stuff eg 2010s colour aerials. (And obvs England-only.)
Must try it out, so thanks. Definitely worth seeing how it develops.
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
So after a month of fighting to get in, they could end up fighting to get out. Don't stop til you get to Moscow, Russian lads. And when you get there, do the world a favour.
For the most part, I find the heavy metal music soundtracks to the twitter videos of Russian tanks and soldiers being hit hard to stomach (without in any way being a criticism of the Ukrainians doing it - they have been provoked beyond my comprehension).
One video had a soundtrack of Wir trinken zusammen which I think is entirely appropriate to what the Ukrainians are doing. Here are the lyrics:
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Really? I find this almost impossible to believe. Where is 'round here'? Masking is a rare enough sight on London buses now, never mind in restaurants. And as for postponing events, er, what? Nothing is being postponed here. Life is back to normal.
It could be just Nick's friends all deciding that they're rather not meet that mad Covid Shielder NPXMP, so they pretend they have "postponed" their parties and get-togethers, when in reality they just disinvited Nick. Also, whenever anyone in Godalming sees Nick, they probably whip out their masks and put them on, to reassure him. And everyone at Nick's office is back to working in the office, and they are happy that Nick stays at home, so they do fake Zooms
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
It will mostly likely be similar to the "widespread" racist abuse of the England footballers who missed penalties in the Euros. There will be some, massively amplified by bad actors e.g. How many people have actually been convicted of racist tweets from that incident, I think it is a handful.
My guess is that the actual number of REAL people saying "ungrateful cow" is pretty damn small. It has been taken up by bots who have multiplied it by 100s. And they've got a reaction from the left, and so an entire divisive and confected row has exploded over Twitter, which is basically all created by Russia
This is a real problem, for all in the West, on every side
I remember that SNP bot that said outrageous things, which made the Nat cause look bad, until we investigated and found out she, too, was fake
Anybody would think the security service of a big and well resorsed nation, might be trying to create internal division and hatred to distract from more important events happening elsewhere. who might that be????
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
Do you want the lefties to be as angry as you are about Remoaners trying to thwart Brexit back in the day, or not quite that angry?
My head is spinning. Can someone tell me what I'm supposed to be angry about please? Currently I'm laid back about culture wars and just a bit miffed about Brexit.
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Where are you Nick? Buckinghamshire? I am seeing almost no-one wearing masks in supermarkets, restaurants or shops. And certainly no curb in social activity at all. Saturday night in Nottingham was absolutely heaving. And masks were almost non existent both in the restaurants and at the Theatre Royal.
Yes, I think we have now established that there is a masking enclave somewhere in a remote corner of the Surrey Hills, where everyone wears full face coverings – if they go out at all – and insist on PCR tests to go to the postbox. All events are cancelled. Life is hard, but hygienic. Nightclubs are exempt (but there aren't any).
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
Wonder how many Russians are in the (claimed pocket)?
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
10-12 BTGs that's close to 10% of the 125 BTG that supposedly Russia had at the start, this is massive.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
Do you want the lefties to be as angry as you are about Remoaners trying to thwart Brexit back in the day, or not quite that angry?
"Leon's a font of misplaced rage. Name your cliché; mother held him too much or not enough, last picked at kickball, late night sneaky uncle, whatever. Now he's so angry moments of levity actually cause him pain; gives him headaches. Happiness, for that gentleman, hurts."
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Yes, that's how British people describe themselves
This is laughable. We are being played by Russia. Calm the F down
I can't help thinking the Russians bots have got their tactics wrong here. Shouldn't they be generating sympathy for Nazanin while portraying Boris as a bumbling incompetent imbecile. All this is simply deflecting deflecting criticism from the saviour of Ukraine.
The modius operandi of the Russian troll farms isn't always to push a single particular narrative, rather to cause disharmony e.g. in the US, it is well known their Facebook group tactics e.g. they ran black Christian groups and white Christian groups, etc etc etc, and they would then group in here is a story about a nice black church goer who was racially abused, and in the white group, one about a nice white church goers attacked by black individual.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing the same here, push the ungrateful angle to some, push the look at what she actually said about how useless Boris is to others.
Yes, absolutely, their technique isn't to support "one side", it is to foment division and rancour, from all angles
BLM was hugely charged by Russian and Chinese bots, working both sides of the argument, you could see it playing out in real time
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Talking of Terry Waite.
In Oliver North's autobiography he talked about the American hostages. One of them came out, pretty much praising his captors, and damning America. North said that some people talked about Stockholm syndrome and the like, but he thought that was rubbish. The man had been quite anti-US government when he was taken hostage and had simply remained so.
The hostages in Beirut were being held by allies of the Iranian government incidentally, and their release was at the behest of the Iranian government.
And yes, Col. North's involvement was exactly about Iran-Contra..
@michaelh992 🚩Ukrainian armed forces claim that they have cut the Russian supply lines to Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv - major development if confirmed (and if Ukrainian forces can hold their position)
Wonder how many Russians are in the (claimed pocket)?
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
10-12 BTGs that's close to 10% of the 125 BTG that supposedly Russia had at the start, this is massive.
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Given the timing it is likely the Russian invasion has created the conditions for a thawing of relations with Iran. A new nuclear deal and the oil and gas will be flowing freely. My view is that lifting sanctions on Iran (subject to the nuclear angle) is good strategically because economic growth means a growth in trade and urban, more cosmopolitan more liberal tendencies that will dilute the theocracy.
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
It will mostly likely be similar to the "widespread" racist abuse of the England footballers who missed penalties in the Euros. There will be some, massively amplified by bad actors e.g. How many people have actually been convicted of racist tweets from that incident, I think it is a handful.
My guess is that the actual number of REAL people saying "ungrateful cow" is pretty damn small. It has been taken up by bots who have multiplied it by 100s. And they've got a reaction from the left, and so an entire divisive and confected row has exploded over Twitter, which is basically all created by Russia
This is a real problem, for all in the West, on every side
I remember that SNP bot that said outrageous things, which made the Nat cause look bad, until we investigated and found out she, too, was fake
Are you suggesting "Young Conservative Network" are not REAL?
- Cash, jewellery, drugs regularly 'go missing'. Access code for one store was scribbled on the door
- Over 100 new recruits have previous convictions for crimes including theft
Over 200 warrant cards missing, too.
Seems odd. A crime and policing commisioner in Wiltshire was disbarred after election because of a traffic offence, yet the Met employs people with convictions for theft?
Wrong kind of chap - not actually a policeman.
If he had been a policeman, he would have gone sick for stress and retried. Then become PCC in another part of the country the next week, since his retirement would have shut down the enquiry.
The more I dig into "ungrateful cow" the more convinced I become that about 30% of Twitter users are fake
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
It will mostly likely be similar to the "widespread" racist abuse of the England footballers who missed penalties in the Euros. There will be some, massively amplified by bad actors e.g. How many people have actually been convicted of racist tweets from that incident, I think it is a handful.
My guess is that the actual number of REAL people saying "ungrateful cow" is pretty damn small. It has been taken up by bots who have multiplied it by 100s. And they've got a reaction from the left, and so an entire divisive and confected row has exploded over Twitter, which is basically all created by Russia
This is a real problem, for all in the West, on every side
I remember that SNP bot that said outrageous things, which made the Nat cause look bad, until we investigated and found out she, too, was fake
Are you suggesting "Young Conservative Network" are not REAL?
Can't see any tweet on their account, but perhaps it was deleted?
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
You know, you can just BE the site twat.
You don’t have to try so hard to re-win the trophy every single day.
He can do what he likes but by the evidence around this area nobody is listening anymore
Indeed I would suggest that is across the UK
Not round here. Masks still universal in supermarkets and everyone I know is curbing social activity and taking LFTs before every meeting. Restaurants are busy, but with staff masked and spacing between seats. Various major events are still being postponed. The perception is that it's getting worse again as we all know people who've got it and mostly report it's quite nasty - not really that people think they'll die, but that they'll have an unpleasant two weeks, so just not worth it for the sake of shopping without a mask. As always it';s a cost-benefit thing - if people really want to do something they will and take any reasonable risk, but if they're not that bothered then they won't.
Really? I find this almost impossible to believe. Where is 'round here'? Masking is a rare enough sight on London buses now, never mind in restaurants. And as for postponing events, er, what? Nothing is being postponed here. Life is back to normal.
It could be just Nick's friends all deciding that they're rather not meet that mad Covid Shielder NPXMP, so they pretend they have "postponed" their parties and get-togethers, when in reality they just disinvited Nick. Also, whenever anyone in Godalming sees Nick, they probably whip out their masks and put them on, to reassure him. And everyone at Nick's office is back to working in the office, and they are happy that Nick stays at home, so they do fake Zooms
Only joking Nick!
Finally we discover what the fake Zoom backgrounds are for!!
I know the article quotes a " pro-Ukrainian employee" but the number is straight out of Ukrainian propaganda. Either copied from or a hack, in which case, it doesn't tell us very much,
The Ukrainian number is 17-18,000. But given that the Russians have - confirmed - lost around 25% of their armoured vehicles, 10,000 killed out of 200,000 troops doesn't sound like a crazy number and is slightly above the 7,000 number that the US estimated for Russian losses last week.
“Democrats working to save their slim majority in the House in November’s elections have been sounding alarm bells lately over research showing that Republican attacks on culture-war issues are working, particularly with center-left, Hispanic and independent voters.”
NYT ($$)
You are actually calling more more culture warring now?
FFS. Get a life.
No, I am calling for "more culture war" as a way of trolling lefties and getting them angry, so as to distract them from more important things, like the actual culture war
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
You know, you can just BE the site twat.
You don’t have to try so hard to re-win the trophy every single day.
At first I thought I could be the Official Site Bore. The most monumentally dull of commenters, devoid of any wit, charm or esprit, effortlessly mundane and banal and, with every comment, making the world a tiny bit drearier. But then I realised I had no chance of matching you in this respect
If anything the last few weeks have shown that it really doesn't matter how contemptible your politicians are when the country they are leading still holds such political and military power. Sad but true.
Maybe
The PM would have been invited to the EU summit on Thursday if BoZo wasn't such a dick.
Maybe that matters. Maybe not.
I don’t get the concern over this one. We’re not in the EU so why would we want to bother with their summit? Nothing of military consequence in Europe can be discussed without us in the room, so this just makes the NATO meeting more important, which is surely what we want?
I could believe Cummings advising Johnson to make this comment precisely for the reason of not being invited to the EU Council. It would be impossible for Johnson to refuse the invitation, but he surely doesn't want the EU to be the forum for making these decisions.
That's why instead Britain has put effort into bilateral and multilateral relationships outside the EU, like the UK-Poland-Ukraine agreement.
I could see Johnson agreeing to a US/UK/EU format of talks, where the EU is one party out of three, but going along to the EU Council where the UK and US will be two voices among thirty - that's not the format Johnson would want.
Very short-sighted of the EU to allow themselves to be riled by Johnson in this way.
Problem with this analysis is that the EUCO is precisely the meeting where the decision will be made, ie the common position between the EU and the US. This then gets rolled out to the NATO and G7 meetings but no-one is likely to diverge much from that position.
It doesn't make the UK completely irrelevant. It's a significant player in the G7 and as you say it's working on the bilaterals. NATO appears to have excluded itself from involvement this conflict but no doubt there are discussions going on about a subset of countries providing security guarantees to Ukraine and the security implications of that for NATO.
I agree the EU should have invited the UK for reasons of protocol even though it doesn't make much difference in practice.
I'm not really convinced by this argument.
The EU has about 5 opinions not 1, held by different groups of countries, and that is what is needed to be managed. That won't happen in a US / European Council meeting.
If there is to be an intervention of a sort in Ukraine, it will be decided by NATO - as EuCo (Commission not Council) has no means to intervene, and nobody would trust their personnel to it in a risk situation. EuCo will have a roll, but not that one.
Though I can see EuCo trying to grab a role in NATO for itself in the next year or two, as that is a normal process for the Brussels bureaucracy.
Much of PB collectively ponders the logistics of nipping down to @NickPalmer's local Waitrose to see for themselves. .
I'm just down the road. I would check for you if I didn't have two broken legs. Not sure I have mentioned that before.
That's awful. What's the prognosis?
@RobD I'm not sure if you are joking or not as I have been boring the pants off people here for nearly 4 weeks with my trials and tribulations. Assuming not, then thank you for your concern (everyone has been so nice here). One leg was a minor break in the foot and is now weight bearing. The other was multiple fractures requiring an op and metalwork. All is very good under the circumstances and the NHS was excellent. Will be a long time before I am up and about though.
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Talking of Terry Waite.
In Oliver North's autobiography he talked about the American hostages. One of them came out, pretty much praising his captors, and damning America. North said that some people talked about Stockholm syndrome and the like, but he thought that was rubbish. The man had been quite anti-US government when he was taken hostage and had simply remained so.
The hostages in Beirut were being held by allies of the Iranian government incidentally, and their release was at the behest of the Iranian government.
And yes, Col. North's involvement was exactly about Iran-Contra..
Terry Waite was sent to negotiate the release of hostages and was taken hostage himself. I seem to recall one of the hostages saying how unbearable Waite was as a fellow captive. Which seems ungrateful but I suppose if you spend months chained to same radiator ...
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Given the timing it is likely the Russian invasion has created the conditions for a thawing of relations with Iran. A new nuclear deal and the oil and gas will be flowing freely. My view is that lifting sanctions on Iran (subject to the nuclear angle) is good strategically because economic growth means a growth in trade and urban, more cosmopolitan more liberal tendencies that will dilute the theocracy.
Yes. Holding the money back was being used as leverage on nuclear stuff, Israel and host of various things, I'm quite sure. In a bureaucracy like the FCO or the American State Dept there would be interest groups around each individual item on the list.
So when handing the money over to get the hostages released came up, you'd get a stack of position papers on why the leverage must be saved to get movement on X.
With Ukraine and the result oil/gas issue - suddenly all those reasons are no longer blockers. They have gone from mountains to mole hills. Bigger fish to fry....
See the rapprochement reported between the US and Venezuela.
Talking of Covid precautions, I just heard that my 50-something stepmother has got Covid
This is *ironic* as she is immuno-compromised and takes more precautions than anyone I know. Literally. She does not meet people indoors, she always wears a good mask (practically a diving helmet) she never goes to pubs/restaurants/theatres, and she has been doing this for two solid years
And yet she has still caught Omicron BA2 (presumably)
It is simply too infectious to be stopped
If I read this right, you are older than your stepmother?
How long until your girlfriend is younger than your daughter?
I see #sendherback is trending on twitter. Seems to be prevalent in a particular dank little corner of my own polity, nice teeth and cared for nails seem to be great triggers of rage for these people.
How unpleasant. Twitter really can be a cesspit.
I also notice #ungratefulcow is trending !!!!
She's entitled to her view, and I imagine she feels rather strongly about the whole thing. I hope the MP's investigation is of some use. We thrashed around on here about why it only happened now, and its surely because the money was paid. We disagree to what extent if any Johnson's foolish words played a role, but at heart she was a hostage, in the same way that Terry Waite was all those years ago (different country, and not perhaps an exact comparison).
Talking of Terry Waite.
In Oliver North's autobiography he talked about the American hostages. One of them came out, pretty much praising his captors, and damning America. North said that some people talked about Stockholm syndrome and the like, but he thought that was rubbish. The man had been quite anti-US government when he was taken hostage and had simply remained so.
The hostages in Beirut were being held by allies of the Iranian government incidentally, and their release was at the behest of the Iranian government.
And yes, Col. North's involvement was exactly about Iran-Contra..
Terry Waite was sent to negotiate the release of hostages and was taken hostage himself. I seem to recall one of the hostages saying how unbearable Waite was as a fellow captive. Which seems ungrateful but I suppose if you spend months chained to same radiator ...
Probably snored, then droned on about pineapple on pizza when awake.
So tempted to drive over to Godalming. I know it's metaphorically a million miles from Woking, but what Nick says is very different 10 miles away.
Indeed, in Guildford Tesco or Waitrose I doubt it's over 10%. But then Godalming has always felt a little like 5 miles and 30 years away...
I think NickPalmerGate can only be resolved if Nick wanders around Godalming and takes photos of all these mask-wearers in Waitrose etc, and posts them on here
Otherwise, we can only presume he is being paid by his friends in Moscow, spreading misinfo, and trying to prolong our Fear of Covid, and he will have to be banned
Much of PB collectively ponders the logistics of nipping down to @NickPalmer's local Waitrose to see for themselves. .
I'm just down the road. I would check for you if I didn't have two broken legs. Not sure I have mentioned that before.
That's awful. What's the prognosis?
@RobD I'm not sure if you are joking or not as I have been boring the pants off people here for nearly 4 weeks with my trials and tribulations. Assuming not, then thank you for your concern (everyone has been so nice here). One leg was a minor break in the foot and is now weight bearing. The other was multiple fractures requiring an op and metalwork. All is very good under the circumstances and the NHS was excellent. Will be a long time before I am up and about though.
OK, and now you mention it I recall someone mentioning breaking their leg a couple of weeks back. To break one may be regarded as a misfortune...
In all seriousness, I hope you have a speedy recovery. To be almost immobilised is not fun.
Talking of Covid precautions, I just heard that my 50-something stepmother has got Covid
This is *ironic* as she is immuno-compromised and takes more precautions than anyone I know. Literally. She does not meet people indoors, she always wears a good mask (practically a diving helmet) she never goes to pubs/restaurants/theatres, and she has been doing this for two solid years
And yet she has still caught Omicron BA2 (presumably)
It is simply too infectious to be stopped
If I read this right, you are older than your stepmother?
How long until your girlfriend is younger than your daughter?
Much of PB collectively ponders the logistics of nipping down to @NickPalmer's local Waitrose to see for themselves. .
I'm just down the road. I would check for you if I didn't have two broken legs. Not sure I have mentioned that before.
That's awful. What's the prognosis?
@RobD I'm not sure if you are joking or not as I have been boring the pants off people here for nearly 4 weeks with my trials and tribulations. Assuming not, then thank you for your concern (everyone has been so nice here). One leg was a minor break in the foot and is now weight bearing. The other was multiple fractures requiring an op and metalwork. All is very good under the circumstances and the NHS was excellent. Will be a long time before I am up and about though.
OK, and now you mention it I recall someone mentioning breaking their leg a couple of weeks back. To break one may be regarded as a misfortune...
In all seriousness, I hope you have a speedy recovery. To be almost immobilised is not fun.
Thank you. The boredom is awful. PB has been a life saver.
I know the article quotes a " pro-Ukrainian employee" but the number is straight out of Ukrainian propaganda. Either copied from or a hack, in which case, it doesn't tell us very much,
The Ukrainian number is 17-18,000. But given that the Russians have - confirmed - lost around 25% of their armoured vehicles, 10,000 killed out of 200,000 troops doesn't sound like a crazy number and is slightly above the 7,000 number that the US estimated for Russian losses last week.
This would mean, by the way, that Russian losses in Ukraine now exceed all deaths of UK armed forces personnel while on deployment since the end of WWII, including those whose deaths were accidental (and including 53 killed by the IRA or at least I assume that's what that number represents).
Comments
vs
It's a mixed picture, though: more millennials will actually inherit more money than previous generations (due to rising house prices) - but, crucially, not until late in life (age 61, as said, being the most common age).
"Even those who can expect to get a share of parental property wealth will get it far later than is optimal. Because of the challenges of releasing wealth from properties that are being lived in, it’s reasonable to expect that these assets will mainly be passed down in inheritances rather than gifts. Based on their parents’ life expectancies, we estimate that the most common age at which 20-35 year olds inherit will be 61. This means that wealth boosts will come not at the expensive child-rearing stage when a larger home is more necessary, but when they are approaching retirement."
[I once wrote 'caught' instead of 'got'].
There are various types of dyslexia, which can include homophones (conflating similar sounds), and conflating similar meanings. If someone's unlucky enough to have both, that can mean they want to write 'chair' but the sound similarity shifts to 'hair' and the meaning similarity means they end up writing 'fur'.
And yes, I am procrastinating.
Are the Ukrainians going to be able to hold the encirclement? which is another way of saying 'do the Russians have enough combat power to force a brake out' I don't know. perhaps the Russians with be able to use there supremacy in the air to resupply or reinforce, again TBC. but perhaps we will see the first large scale surending of Russian Troops.
They're a self-appointed group of politicians with left-wing leanings. Annoyed that no one else recognises their expertise. They should call themselves pSage for political Sage.
It was estimated at 5% for over 80% across the whole pandemic (before Omicron)
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/207273/covid-19-deaths-infection-fatality-ratio-about/
So with Omicron, triple jab, antivirals, the treatments in hospital, the better treatment plans, etc, I think its unlikely its as high as 3%.
I think you're missing the point. Whether these are real people or bots, the overlap between Brexit/antiwoke and the (sadly predictable) misogyny and abuse is the thing. The people sending these tweets understand their audience to be receptive to this kind of hatred. These attitudes are correlated. That tells us something, it is useful information not to be lightly dismissed.
My point is that there is a perception that the intended audience will be receptive to these messages.
People tend to follow those who reinforce their own view -- the famous "echo chamber" -- and the messaging coming from these accounts therefore tells us something about the audience.
And even if you want to think about the subset of accounts sending these messages that are bots (I think it's safe to say there will be a mix of bots and real people), there are still PEOPLE behind those bots deciding what message to send, and the decisions they make very much depend on which messages will land well with which targets.
Just the French had all the wrong doctrine about how to use it.
Historically, fatality rates have been between a quarter and a half of the hospitalisation rates (higher for the older and more at risk; lower for younger and less at risk). This rate against hospitalisation has been reducing as better treatments become available.
If the at-risk person takes Paxlovid within 5 days of onset of symptoms, hospitalisation and fatality chances both reduce by almost exactly a factor of ten.
FFS. Get a life.
It is surely very easy to write a programme that can create multiple fake accounts, and also make them a lot more credible than
DavidJo66933798
or
RobertintheUK1
All you need to do is shove in random retweets, pictures of animals, pictures of meals, nothing actually personal which needs curating, but which give a veneer of credibility. Build up a few followers by following people who automatically follow back (that seems to be another giveaway, people with, say, 5,000 followers who also follow about 5,000 others)
Then every so often pump out a really contentious, radical tweet, from the left or the right, stoking some fiery debate. Job done in Moscow
I want a meta-culture war. Duh
All they do is say something daft and watch arguments start and balloon.
Anyway, I am going to veer in the approximate direction of work.
Au revoir, mes amis.
But what does this say about Aaron Banks - also a Russian bot ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7QootpiLPg
No wonder the average poilu on the boulevard, or rather the trench, hated it. Just think of trying to keep the action clean on the Western Front.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing the same here, push the ungrateful angle to some, push the look at what she actually said about how useless Boris is to others.
Jomini's map would suggest 10-12 BTGs, but with many of them already degraded by losses.
There have been a few times when Ukrainian claims have been a bit exaggerated. The supply lines might be cut, without the Ukrainians necessarily being in a position to prevent a retreat.
This is a real problem, for all in the West, on every side
I remember that SNP bot that said outrageous things, which made the Nat cause look bad, until we investigated and found out she, too, was fake
I read the other day for instance that at one point you got pumped by the algorithm if you put famous people's handle in your tweet, then they changed it to as long as not the start, now it more like to get pumped if you write a thread and the handles are in the second or third tweet of the thread.
I would guess that all the "flashing siren" emoji stuff at one point got you pumped. And I notice loads of people now latched on to that.
.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/how-democracy-can-win-ukraine/627125/
...Before you can achieve something, you have to imagine what it will look like. And in this war, victory can be imagined without difficulty. It means that Ukraine remains a sovereign democracy, with the right to choose its own leaders and make its own treaties. There will be no pro-Russian puppet regime in Kyiv, no need for a prolonged Ukrainian resistance, no continued fighting. The Russian army retreats back over the borders. Maybe those borders could change, or maybe Ukraine could pledge neutrality, but that is for the Ukrainians to decide and not for outsiders to dictate. Maybe international peacekeepers are needed. Whatever happens, Ukraine must have strong reasons to believe that Russian troops will not quickly return...
One video had a soundtrack of Wir trinken zusammen which I think is entirely appropriate to what the Ukrainians are doing. Here are the lyrics:
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=wir+trinken+zusammen+lyrics&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Edit: actual title Was wollen wir trinken
#RussianWarCrimes https://twitter.com/avalaina/status/1506267373975838730/photo/1
He looks much more plausible. He's done many tweets. But on examination all of them are curiously anodyne: endless retweets about animal adoptions, or meals he has cooked (noticeably, without anything personal in the shot nothing that might identify who he is, if he exists)
About every tenth or twentieth tweet he will say something controversial. Either anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, or anti-vax. He's really anti-vax. He also goes on about Epstein and other "conspiracies" - true or not
Is he real?
It is genuinely hard to say
His bio suggests not
Jim smith
@Jimsmit22773039
Rock music, boxing fishing motor sport, proud dad and grandad, love cooking.
Kent
Joined January 2021
https://twitter.com/Jimsmit22773039/status/1505967991699263494?s=20&t=qakBoKxGlGGgM5apyBdEGA
Again, look at the unusual follower numbers:
2,115 Following
1,972 Followers
He's never mentioned boxing or fishing in his timeline, as far as I can see. No pics of his kids or grand kids. He also said "ungrateful cow"
Yet maybe I am doing him a disservice, and Jimsmith22773039 is real. But who would choose a Twitter name like that?
If he is a bot, the bots are getting better
https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/1506264161524887555?cxt=HHwWhsC92cfRqecpAAAA
Russia does need to be defeated and seen to be defeated to impose an unsustainable cost on similar brutality. But that comes second and could take a long time.
She was unhappy that he wouldn't directly confirm he would nuke Moscow.
She was also annoyed that he wouldn't confirm Partygate is over and suggested he hadn't moved on.
It set me thinking on what PB handle she uses.
Must try it out, so thanks. Definitely worth seeing how it develops.
Only joking Nick!
BLM was hugely charged by Russian and Chinese bots, working both sides of the argument, you could see it playing out in real time
LAB: 40% (+1)
CON: 35% (-1)
LDEM: 11% (+1)
GRN: 7% (+1)
REFUK: 2% (-2)
via @RedfieldWilton, 20 Mar
Chgs. w/ 13 Mar
In Oliver North's autobiography he talked about the American hostages. One of them came out, pretty much praising his captors, and damning America. North said that some people talked about Stockholm syndrome and the like, but he thought that was rubbish. The man had been quite anti-US government when he was taken hostage and had simply remained so.
The hostages in Beirut were being held by allies of the Iranian government incidentally, and their release was at the behest of the Iranian government.
And yes, Col. North's involvement was exactly about Iran-Contra..
@bigjohnowls please explain
If he had been a policeman, he would have gone sick for stress and retried. Then become PCC in another part of the country the next week, since his retirement would have shut down the enquiry.
You don’t have to try so hard to re-win the trophy every single day.
The EU has about 5 opinions not 1, held by different groups of countries, and that is what is needed to be managed. That won't happen in a US / European Council meeting.
If there is to be an intervention of a sort in Ukraine, it will be decided by NATO - as EuCo (Commission not Council) has no means to intervene, and nobody would trust their personnel to it in a risk situation. EuCo will have a roll, but not that one.
Though I can see EuCo trying to grab a role in NATO for itself in the next year or two, as that is a normal process for the Brussels bureaucracy.
There is enough on the table to seize hostilities and seriously negotiate now. "
So when handing the money over to get the hostages released came up, you'd get a stack of position papers on why the leverage must be saved to get movement on X.
With Ukraine and the result oil/gas issue - suddenly all those reasons are no longer blockers. They have gone from mountains to mole hills. Bigger fish to fry....
See the rapprochement reported between the US and Venezuela.
How long until your girlfriend is younger than your daughter?
I am pleased my life is simpler.
Otherwise, we can only presume he is being paid by his friends in Moscow, spreading misinfo, and trying to prolong our Fear of Covid, and he will have to be banned
In all seriousness, I hope you have a speedy recovery. To be almost immobilised is not fun.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/972075/20210325_UK_armed_forces_Operational_deaths_post_World_War_II-O.pdf