And if they have become a participant, does that mean Ukraine can send a few special drones to NK, the way they’ve been hitting the Russians in Syria?

There’s no doubt that US sizes have become more generous. Size measurements have increased over the years by about 2 inches. A size 10 from the 50’s fits like a size 8 today. A medium shirt is closer to a large from 70 years ago.

We won’t have a clear winner. No matter which candidate “wins”, there will be widespread allegations of voter fraud. There will be protests. Biden will declare a national emergency. What happens after that? I don’t know. But I am prepared for major social unrest.

A large number of people from both major parties are absolutely unwilling to accept a win by the opposing candidate. I’ve never seen the country so divided.

Electronics are pretty reliable. Cheap mechanical parts are not. High end systems are be able to withstand the rigors of setup and takedown, dusty environments, and frequent transportation. If you keep a cheap mixer indoors and cover the controls with a dropcloth to minimize dust, it should last quite a while.

Aircraft are generally not required to accept surrender unless it is apparent that the surrendering soldiers have removed themselves from the conflict (disarmed) and are headed toward your lines (intent to give up). Even then it’s a judgment call if the aircraft is incapable of escorting them to nearby ground troops who can accept their surrender and take them into custody. That’s why you see videos of unarmed soldiers making the surrender gestures and they still get taken out by the drone. They’re too far behind enemy lines to facilitate taking them prisoner.

Cheap works for non-professional projects. I’ve used Behringer, Alesis, and other inexpensive mixers for sound systems. The tradeoff is cheap generally means you might be replacing the board in 5-10 years. The Alesis mixer lasted about 6 years before the pots got noisy. My karaoke system is a mid-range 16-channel board, and it’s going on 15 years trouble free.

If all you need is to set the levels and parameters then leave them alone, cheap will work. If you’re making changes while recording or performing, cheap will eventually fail you.

There are plenty of companies that will sell your name, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, marital status, and relative’s names. They obtain the information from publicly sold databases. I had access to one that had all that, plus the registration info for the car I drive, my estimated income, my military record, my driving record, my political party preference, and pictures of my home that had been on the realtor’s website.

The scary one was when a phone center employee in the Philippines stole my wife’s debit card number and then did two big Western Union MoneyGram transfers to a couple of Filipino men. That means bad actors have access to the credit companies’ databases from which Western Union draws their proof of identity questions, like who holds your mortgage, where you lived when you were 10, and the make/model of your first vehicle.

If you’re well-off enough to be a financial fraud target, paying a company for identity theft protection is probably well worth it. Put fraud alerts in with all the major credit bureaus too. That usually stops identity thieves from accessing your credit. If you use 2FA with your phone, make sure your telecom provider will not transfer your number to a new device without in-person authorization and authentication.

Don’t know why it took them this long. Seems like such a simple thing to mount a gun to a drone. In most of these drone videos, the soldiers are standing, laying on the ground, or running in a straight line. Easy targets for a rifle.

Absentee ballot. Always worked for me in the Navy.

When you shop for a place to live, do you buy/rent nothing because nothing is “perfect”? Or do you weigh the benefits and detriments of each available option and choose the best one?

There’s a clear choice, and if you need to see what voter apathy gets you, look at Venezuela. We got a second chance because the Jan 6 attempt failed. If you don’t vote, the usurper might win.

Totally agree. Iran can see incoming aircraft and missiles on their radar. There would have been widespread social media reports of the missile flying over the city. These things did not happen. Where’s the missile debris? That would have been the lead story on local TV news. Iranian leadership would love to tie the attack back to a missile provided by the US. That would have been their first claim if it really was due to a missile. This story sounds more like Iran belatedly trying to change the narrative.

I thought Belarus was allowing Russia to overfly its territory?

Wait…isn’t Belarus a Russian ally? And Shaheds are used by the Russians. Why would Belarus want to intercept Shaheds?

They’re still surrendering. But it’s not the kind of video that generates donations. Ukraine has been operating the “I want to live” surrender hotline since 2022. Soldiers are given instructions via phone, text, Telegram, or the website on how to signal a drone with their intention to surrender.

Drones can’t take prisoners when they’re way behind enemy lines. Normal face-to-face combat allows for surrender, but how can a drone take control of an enemy combatant who surrenders 5 miles behind the lines? That’s why you see drones killing the wounded and unarmed. Until they are dead they are an enemy asset that is irretrievable. It’s the same reason abandoned enemy equipment is destroyed. If it can’t be captured, you don’t want the enemy to fix it up and continue using it.

Most Russian soldiers know they can surrender, but they risk being shot by their own troops. Many have families back in Russia who would suffer if they surrender. Some have no idea where the Ukrainian lines are, and walking around way behind the lines is an invitation to the drones. Others have bought into the Russian propoganda about life as a prisoner of war in Ukraine. And some just have too much machismo to surrender. They’d rather die. Surrenders typically happen when there’s close combat.

How do earth-sheltered homes comply? I’ve seen a few, and they have no windows in most of the rooms, including bedrooms. And there’s a few who’ve taken to living in caves, old mines, and decommissioned missile silos. There must be an exception to this code.

Cut them up and use them for rags, or deface the logo with permanent marker before donation. Clothes that are not fashionable don’t sell. They end up in huge bales. A few are sold to clothing recyclers (cut up for industrial rags or shredded for felt), but most end up in countries where they disrupt the local garment economy, become landfill, or are burned, contributing to air pollution (do search for “clothing in Atacama desert” or “donated clothing in Africa”).

I only donate quality items in good condition that I would buy. Cheap clothing refills my rag bin. If you’re really feeling guilty about not donating used clothing, the best way to assuage your guilt is to become a resale store customer.

They sell the ramen seasoning separately. It’s the same stuff in the little packets. If you can’t get it locally, Amazon has it. Search for “ramen seasoning”.

This conversation reminds me of when I discovered I can buy the Mac and Cheese powder for a lot less than buying the box. I love it on popcorn and homemade tortilla chips. Also can be used to make Mac and Cheese for cheap.

It’s the same for Sync for Lemmy. Sometimes the majority of comments are invisible. I’ll see 12 comments, of which only 2 show. Sometimes there’s a reply to one of my comments, and I can read it in the inbox, but it is invisible in the actual thread.

Have you been stunting with this bike? Looks like a tire/rim after a hard landing.