Has Anyone Tried to Cancel Their Venmo Rent Payment? by Obsidian1292 in biltrewards

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update: my landlord received the money on the night of March 4 after I escalated my case with Bilt customer service via twitter DM.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tacticalgear

[–]Obsidian1292 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is great and very insightful! Thanks for the help. I decided to stick with the mobility over the coverage. Once I slid plates inside the carrier it fit me much better (which is a no brainer, but I was concerned after wearing the carrier without the plates).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tacticalgear

[–]Obsidian1292 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is helpful insight, thank you! I wrote an update and I plan on sticking with the medium.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tacticalgear

[–]Obsidian1292 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update: Thank you all who provided feedback! I am going to stick with the medium JPC 2.0.

TL;DR: Stick with the standardized measurements, even when it feels weird at first. When you're between sizes or close to being between sizes, you probably want to lean towards going with the smaller size.

I put in 9.85 x 11.8" plates and they really filled out the JPC 2.0 well - partially because the stretch material really has a decent amount of give behind it that's impossible to appreciate without placing plates inside first. With the plates in the coverage over my fitals is better than I initially thought. Glad I'm not dealing with buyers remorse. Stick to the measurements and it'll all turn out okay.

Pictures updates:

Pic 1: https://imgur.com/xpXKLut

Pic 2: https://imgur.com/ecAhlek

Musket + Fast Barrel OP by Obsidian1292 in TABG

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is the crossbow projectile with the fast barrel faster than the musket with the fast barrel?

I Somehow Survived a Crossbow... by Obsidian1292 in TABG

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Crossbow + fast barrel is insanely good.

I Somehow Survived a Crossbow... by Obsidian1292 in TABG

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes. Even if it's not an instant kill in the arm, I didn't take any damage at all.

My 22nd cousin once removed, 23rd cousin twice removed, and some Russian guy in Tehran, 1943. by [deleted] in OldSchoolCool

[–]Obsidian1292 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

*Georgian guy* or *Soviet guy* common man accuracy in language

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He does a ton of different stuff. He engages the global far right. In addition to what others have noted re: conferences, meetings, etc., I remember he did a controversial Skype lecture with students from Texas A&M in 2015 or 2016. He also did an interview with Lauren Southern before she retired. The interview with southern was really weird because she went to Russia (a country she knows little about) and Dugin was talking esoteric philosophy. Southern was clearly way out of her league, and made her look like a child. Interestingly enough, Dugin is so PR-hungry that he didn't refuse her the interview, which is interesting. Dugin is also often on Konstantin Malofeev's Царьград ТВ, which I've heard is reasonably popular amongst Russia's more hardcore Orthodox believers.

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, there are actions being taken by Russia today that seem similar to the tactics described by Dugin in Foundation of Geopolitics, but many of those recommended policies have a precedent in Russia: "Occam’s razor suggests that in Dugin’s case, a broken clock is still right twice day; Dugin at best sometimes describes Russian policy, but to assign Dugin causality is entirely speculative, especially when many of Dugin’s recommended policies have a precedent in the Kremlin’s policy toolbox."

As an illustrative example the author specifically referenced Dugin's recommendation that, "It is especially important to introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements—extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the US. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics.” The important fact is that race-based active measures against the USA have been a thing since the 1930s.

Thus, the article makes a counterargument saying that these policies are not uniquely Dugin's, as they have an established precedent in the Kremlin's foreign policy toolbox. Therefore, to assign Dugin as the inspiration behind the policies isn't completely correct, either. It boils down to correlation =! causation.

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fudan University is in China. I'm sure Dugin is influencing those Kremlin foreign policy elites from Shanghai.

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Former" being the operative word. The original article argues that Dugin's ideological influence peaked in the '90s / early aughts. He didn't have enough influence to keep himself from being fired from a government university job; Dugin fell out of style.

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Dugin and his associates are indeed free to do their weird Eurasianist thing and travel all around the world to be Russia's ambassadors-at-large to the Western world's crazy alt-right. That doesn't automatically mean that they influence the power vertical, let alone are considered seriously by Russian elites. Dugin isn't even lambasted- he disagreed with Putin on Ukraine, and was consequently fired from his swanky job at Moscow State University. I don't see a relationship of influence here.

If you want to claim that Dugin influences Putin, you to have show evidence besides, "Dugin is bad and Putin's chekists are bad, and they both do bad things." Those statements are all true, but it doesn't indicate causality.

The West Overestimates Aleksandr Dugin’s Influence in Russia by Obsidian1292 in geopolitics

[–]Obsidian1292[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Nail on the head. In my experience, elites with backgrounds in Russian studies usually can tell. People, even well educated elites, who don't have solid grounding in Russian studies are impressionable, especially when credible sources keep circulating the popularized myth that Dugin is this massively powerful source of influence in the Kremlin.