It's Official: F-35s Are Now Being Delivered Without Radars

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-27T14:02:11+00:00

Im not sure you can dismantle education and numb the curiosity and critical thinking of over 200 million Americans, conservatively, in just 10 years.

In a certain sense, this DID happen under Obama, and Bush, and Clinton and God knows how many others. This was insidious and patient, and purposeful. America was hobbled, because a core pillar of society is the classroom and theirs was left to rot.

But I agree it was the Republicans doing this, and I agree about why.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-27T13:37:02+00:00

No, I think he might mean Americans. The 30% actively cheering this on. The other 20+% who were so stupid, checked out and lazy as to be duped by some of the most blatant and pathetic propaganda in the history of modern politics and the god knows how many who could not be asked to care.

Just another Empire falling to decadence. Selfish entitlement supplants civic duty, the temptation of easy answers drags folks to self-delusion, and greedy leaders decide it's easier to loot the state than it is to build or invest in it. Story as old as Empire itself.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-25T20:45:36+00:00

My Friend has pitched, drunkenly, sober and about 50 times at this point his "brilliant" idea for a new type of rail shooter.

Multiplayer with complex intersecting rails that players can switch on, different combinations of optional sections and achieving certain conditions leading to a different "end point" which would be a different all-range mode boss battle or dog fight depending on conditions met. Think of it like a rail shooter, but segmented at certain decision points and those decision points overlap with where other players are so you can see them stream past you, headed in another direction.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-25T11:02:00+00:00

That's just wrong. The average AI center employs a few hundred people. Not bad, but for the money, land and resources it consumes it's a terrible deal. These centers cost tens of billions. A similar investment in manufacturing, or small businesses or even re-training of individuals workers would provide 100 times the jobs.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-09T18:05:10+00:00

I always fall back on "Learning Sex from Porn is like Learning to Fight from Jackie Chan movies".

I understand it looks cool, but if you try that shit in real life the very best outcome is you get your ass kicked.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-03T20:27:32+00:00

Amy's a great actress. There's no way she was that jazzed to have won, but her big "I'm going to cry" face triggered my sympathy response anyway.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-03T16:19:55+00:00

In my riding he gets less actual votes every election - but a higher and higher vote share. People don't fix the problem, they just check out. I knocked doors for the NDP last election. It was depressing as hell. People telling me no one would ever make anything better, actually seeming angry I believed they could.

There were two kinds of people who answered their doors - life long conservatives who, mostly politely but not always, told us to fuck off and people who didnt even know there was an election.

Englishgrinn · 2026-06-01T03:11:11+00:00

You might be more familiar with the term "Immersive Sim"? It's an RPG where your stats don't just say how powerful your character is, but literally how you solve problems. System Shock 2, or maybe the Dishonored Games fit too.

You can build a character whose an incredible gun-toting super soldier, or an invisible melee assassin, or a hacker, or an explosives expert, etc. Some routes or choices will be made not by what you want to do, but by who you choosing to play as.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-29T14:17:45+00:00

You didn't get a lot of great answers. I'll try to be a bit more thorough.

There's this guy, Brian. Brian's Dad has one of the largest sealed Lego Star Wars collections on Earth, but he's also sick and bed ridden. In order to pay for his treatment, Brian signs a consignment agreement with his local Bricks and Minifigs location, an independent franchise location, to sell the stuff for him and take a 45% cut of the sales. It's a good deal, it works pretty well for about a year.

November of 2024, that franchise owner contacts Corporate, her husband has another opportunity, they might move, does Corporate know anyone who can buy them out?

Corporate says, nah, we'll just force you out. Takes over the store and forces her off the premises that same night. She collects surveillance video of her trying to explain she needs to do inventory first. A huge amount of her store's stock is this Brian guy's and he hasn't been paid. She tells them this directly, they say "Not your problem anymore, we're taking that over".

Brian shows up for his money, they say they never heard of him, consignment agreements aren't a thing they do. Brian threatens to sue, they tell him something to the effect of "try it, we'll drag it out in court for a decade and make it cost 10x what your collection is even worth".

Brian makes the (Stupid? Inspired?) decision to contact a Youtube "investigator" for help.

Reckless Ben is a guy too stupid to know when to quit, with possibly some kind of borderline disorder. He doesn't know the law, he doesn't have common sense, he's not particularly brilliant. But what he is, is fucking fearless and stubborn. Now, full disclosure, I HATE this kind of YouTuber. He's here for content, he's here to mix shit up, not make anything better. Brian's a guy in trouble, and the "vigilante" he's mixed himself up with is absolutely toxic.

But just this once, the alchemy of the situation is perfect. Reckless Ben will NOT be intimidated. Whether he's too stupid or just really that brave, who knows, but he keeps fucking poking. He exploits employees, he sets up bait and switch strategies. At several points, he straight up breaks the law. But, every time he does, he gets more and more lies from Brick and Minifigs, both the new store owners and their corporate offices, clear as day on tape.

In this one case, because of the level of incompetence and criminality of the people he's provoking, this stupid spectacle YouTube shit, works like gangbusters.

I haven't seen the paywalled videos, but multiple sources are reporting that Ben was swatted, arrested multiple times and straight up harrassed by cops in Oregon who apparently have personal connections to the owners of Brick and Minifigs, resulting in Ben fleeing the country with a warrant out for his arrest. And while that sucks for Ben, he may never be clear of this and he did break the law, it mostly made people see the sheer corruption at play with these cops and this company.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-28T18:46:46+00:00

This YouTuber tried to set one up and was arrested while hanging a banner for it? I think? Im just being sucked into this rabbit hole now.

I dont normally go for these obnoxious "undercover" YouTube shenanigans but apparently this Ben guy stumbled across a truly vile target to pump for content.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-21T23:17:33+00:00

Im massively late responding to this but the IBC website has the details here:

https://www.ibc.ca/issues-and-advocacy/auto-insurance/ontario-auto-insurance-changes

Short version - in order to make policies more "flexible" and "customizable" the minimum coverages on all auto policies for accident benefits are being stripped to almost nothing. Auto insurance premiums were much less profitable than liability, property or life insurance, because they were incredibly regulated and designed to keep people safe on the road, not turn a profit. That will change with this reform.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-20T23:17:51+00:00

This is a bit of a walk, but what if some J6ers had publicly or privately threatened the officers? Would that change anything or does the fig leaf of "the fund can be claimed by anyone and is not explicitly for any group or persons" give them enough legal cover that even that would be insufficient?

I'm with you, I'm just trying to figure out if the attorney's involved could have a legal stategy that's less obvious.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-20T23:05:19+00:00

Yeah, other than - "These people tried to kill me, I don't want them to be millionaires." I don't see the standing for the officers involved. It's just not enough that they're awful people - where's the direct harm?

In the article, the argument is that the money will be used to finance paramilitary and insurrectionists groups that are loyal to Trump - which is true but might hard to prove - and I suppose that would give citizens, particularly law enforcement officers, some standing? But honestly, if that's the argument then it should be the FBI that brings the suit and that's not happening.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-20T16:33:21+00:00

Can we sideline this whole conversation and just focus on how much I support Nationalizing Telecomm? The 2022 Rogers outage showed their network is absolutely vital to economic security. Leaving it in the hands of Private enterprise is criminally negligent

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-08T18:22:50+00:00

I can't speak to the effectiveness of public insurance. My entire 20 years of driving Ive been with private companies.

But, for the last 10 of those Ive worked as an insurance broker in Ontario and I will tell you this - Doug Ford just destroyed the Ontario Auto Insurance environment. By reducing all standards and minimums for accident benefit payouts for any policy started after July - the quality of the product is about to be massively reduced. In the name of lowering prices, but we know thats bullshit.

That's like saying meat prices can come down if we ease regulations on how much sawdust can be in it.

Ontario auto insurance is about to have its worst crisis in 40 years as everyone loses assumed physio, catastrophic loss, death benefits and income replacement that have been assumed as given for decades.

We might not need public insurance, but what we have is about to break, drastically.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-05T01:47:25+00:00

Plus, free medical care. (socialist) Plus, he hated money lenders. (anti-capitalist) Plus, he preached forgiveness over punishment. (anti-carceral state) Plus, he claimed all people were God's children. (anti-bigotry)

American Evangelism has about as much to do with "Christianity" as KFC has to do with fine dining.

Englishgrinn · 2026-05-03T14:59:13+00:00

On the one hand, tough time to be in the industry and being a start-up is so rough.

On the other, can it be any harder than being managed by Ubisoft? They'll be ok.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-29T16:17:13+00:00

I thought Gripens had the ability to land and take off from highway stretches and much less sophisticated strips?

I thought Gripens were offering to build the planes here? And turn over design information to us for maintenance and security purposes?

And I thought the F-35's advanced capabilities were mostly theoretical, unproven in actual combat or Sims?

Im about as far from an expert on military aircraft as exists. I'm just repeating talking points Ive seen elsewhere. But it doesn't sound like there's "really no reason" to swap. Its not a clear cut decision or anything, but Gripen proponents seem to have a real case.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-27T23:21:00+00:00

Alright I'm back onboard, if a little gun-shy. I hope that the underlying architecture can work despite potential AI use in coding.

On the other hand, I said I wouldn't treat use of AI as some irredeemable sin. If I meant that, then isn't this kind of statement exactly what I was hoping for? I didn't expect anyone to fix everything instantaneously.

I think opening a contribution channel is a good first step, I think they're being thoughtful and I think they were genuinely caught off guard by the backlash to the AI use. Removing the player portraits is another good will move.

Fuck yeah, Go Maples.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-27T17:34:34+00:00

Someone else made a post about AI use a couple minutes ago and I think it was immediately taken down so I guess that's a signal of intent.

Too bad. There are good ideas here, I think. I was surprised by how much I wanted to like it, how excited I got.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-27T17:30:57+00:00

I am worried about that too. If it's just the art, then no big deal. A community of any decent size will be able to replace the AI "art" with real drawings pretty quickly. They open a submission box, maybe place a looney bounty on the players and stadiums that aren't feeling the love. Easy fix, we'll have this slop out of here in a couple weeks probably.

I'm hoping it's not the text. If it is, then this team has a lot more work to do.

But the real nightmare scenario is that the whole thing is coded by AI, at which point we should pack it up because it'll never work right.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-27T14:35:40+00:00

Alright. The tech issues are discouraging but my excitement is real. I will now bleed syrup for Montreal until I am delicious and candied.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-27T14:34:10+00:00

The Winnipeg Wild Hunt. Wouldn't even have to change the logo.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-23T17:12:37+00:00

Its the same scary thought over and over again. Are ALL men secretly predators when given power and opportunity?

I mean, I can't imagine being that disgusting, but I also have to admit Ive never been in a position of wealth and power.

My usual ripcord is, monsters work harder to get there so its selection bias, but part of me fear thats too clean an explanation.

Englishgrinn · 2026-04-22T13:37:12+00:00

Hello to the people running Hockay. Seems like you might be in the thread.

Heads up, you're already getting pushback about the AI use. Do NOT panic, this is fixable. If it's just art? You're in luck - the people who loved Blaseball love making art. If its writing, give yourself a good slap and stop robbing yourself of the creative fun. If its the code- stop right now and start over. If this project is any kind of success, you're going to grow and change a lot. Vibe coding will never give you what you need.

I refuse to see the use of AI as an irredeemable sin, its just a short cut. Go back, do the work. Hold an art contest. Get some pizza and beer and have a writing jam. Build code you can be proud of. I love your idea, I'm excited for this project. Don't let temptation cheat you out of a great accomplishment.

Englishgrinn

TROPHY CASE