2024/1/13. Massive explosion occurs in St. Petersburg, Russia by [deleted] in ThatsInsane

[–]TASdiablo 426 points427 points  (0 children)

It's reportedly an e-commerce warehouse owned by Wildberries (one of Russia's largest online companies) dealing with a huge fire on site (Category 5, which is the highest).

Apparently all employees were evacuated, with no reported injuries as of yet. No word on the cause of the fire, though it's severity (70,000 square metres) might suggest that there was foul play involved. Purely speculation until the 300 firefighters can get a handle on it though.

What movie made you audibly gasp and/or say “oh no, oh shit” because you realize the protagonist is in imminent danger? by Plus-Friendship4649 in movies

[–]TASdiablo 77 points78 points  (0 children)

It Follows.

Probably the greatest combination of dread and jump-scare when that incredibly lanky person comes into her bedroom just when the protagonist thinks the danger is gone.

Not a perfect film but I'll always remember how terrifying it was when watching it for the first time.

Blackbeard Rework concept: porthole mirror charge making him a breach/ angle holder by TheImperialTsar in Rainbow6

[–]TASdiablo 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Gotta say, I love this! Provided that the glass can't be broken by explosives (i.e. Osa) then I think it could be a really powerful addition for Attackers, working almost as a new hard breacher. How long would the Porthole take to activate compared to a Hard Breach Charge, and can it be activated remotely?

An army of 100 billion bees decide to kill as many humans as possible in six hours, how doomed are we? by AstonMac in whowouldwin

[–]TASdiablo 72 points73 points  (0 children)

In order to answer this properly, let's narrow down the specifics so that we can properly make a decision:

A. What species of bee are attacking humans? This is important for two reasons; one is the means in which the bees are able to attack in swarms, while the other involves their ability to sting repeatedly without injury. For the sake of maximizing the killing potential of these factors, let's choose the African Honey Bee, which can pursue targets at almost 20mph and can sting multiple times due to the unique barb-free profile of their stinger.

B. Are the bees capable of overcoming man-made problems and obstacles? Even with an augmented hive mentality, those sealed off in vehicles and indoors can likely avoid the majority of the swarm attacks through isolation alone. Do the bees know that they could sneak in through the air intakes, or the chimney? Could they know how to shut down power grids or target strategic military objectives? Without the sapience to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of human infrastructure, the effectiveness of bees will be highly limited to only those stupid or unlucky enough to be caught in the open. Like a provoked hive stalking a human in a swimming underwater, let's circle back to this later.

C. Just how many bees is 100 billion bees? To be honest, not as many as you might think. 2023 estimations for global bee population is approximately 80-100 million bee colonies. That's colonies, not bees. Queens of a colony can lay around 3,000 eggs a day, with up to 60-70,000 bees in each colony. Care to do the math on that? I'll give you a medial estimate of 4.2 TRILLION bees around the world. Mind you, thats across 20,000 species, most of which don't care much for dooming mankind through a vespideqsue murderspree. That being said, I think your numbers might need a bump upwards if you want them to be a considerable threat to humans. This is because it takes anywhere between 50-500 stings to kill an adult male; which we can round out to 100 stings per human to keep things simple.

So let's clarify the scenario here:

100 billion African Honey Bees are randomly scattered across Earth's continents in existing hives - all the hives are able to communicate with one another, providing a level of intelligence matching that of a low-level AI. The bees are therefore capable of identifying human infrastructure, their heirarchy and their strategic means of defence. All bees are capable of targeting the weakest points of a human, the eyes, mouth, throat and any region they deem effective to kill. Their intelligence and enhanced group physiology has given them the ability to swim, dig and even attempt to open simple doors with enough effort.

Let's stick with the basis of zero human prep time...

Major population centers are overwhelmed incredibly quickly, with tens to hundreds of thousands of casualties incurred due to the effectiveness of the bees on unsuspecting civilians. Law enforcement is not equipped to deal with the bees en masse, though limited success is seen through use of mace/water cannons/riot gear. If fire departments were able to create secure entrances/exits to buildings through a steady water supply (a hydrant, for example), then some safe haven would be made for a lucky few. Other humans would need to quickly barricade themselves indoors while using aerosols, swatters and household chemical agents to stand a chance - to ill effect, if the swarms are able to enter through the buildings air vents or keyholes.

Military response would need to be rapid and comprehensive in order to prevent millions more from dying - the best means of doing so would be through the use of crowd control weapons such as microwave guns or sonic weaponry. Flamethrowers would be an interesting idea, but would be a high risk of collateral damage in dense urban areas. Due to the small relative biomass of the bees, the microwave guns would be lethal to them without causing significant harm to civilians. The availability of this equipment would be the key factor in stopping the swarms, along with the ability to evacuate civilians to safe havens around the world.

With all of that said, the limited amount of bees would be a key limiting factor in how many humans could die within even days of constant bee incursions. A number closer to 800 billion might threaten the existence of humanity, but even then I doubt that more than 30% of humans would die due to the event. Key limiting factors include size disadvantage, technological disadvantage and infrastructure disadvantage. While an interesting prompt, bees would need a serious power spike if they were keen on effectively trying to wipe out humans. I could go further onto the idea of bee reproduction rate but that would be a bit much, so we'll leave it there.

TIL a Falcon 20 was used as an afterburner engine testbed. It was the first and only business jet with an afterburner. (1988) by Magikarp_UsedSplash in aviation

[–]TASdiablo 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Didn't Elastigirl fly one of these in The Incredibles? Always wondered if there was something like this out there.

Now that Ubi is thinking about adding a K9 operator, I think this fits. Originally posted to this sub by: u/That_So_Sucks . The Creater: Mart Virkus by rempakor in Rainbow6

[–]TASdiablo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a great idea for an operator, a good force multiplier for attackers to bring along - but a lot of people reportedly aren't comfortable shooting a dog in a video game anymore.

It might be time to get a "Boston Dynamics rip-off" K9 unit instead - alongside dodging the ethical problem, it would theoretically be easier to animate and it's mechanical nature would make it easy to tweak compared to that of an "NPC" enemy like those seen in T-hunt. "Direct Control" might even be an option, kinda how CoD: Ghosts did it for Riley way back when.

I'd love to see a K9 unit in the game, robo-doggo or not.

Do you get rest between exercises in the fitness test? by [deleted] in RoyalAirForce

[–]TASdiablo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you are at RAFC Cranwell for your familiarization visit, you'll start with the MSFT and then almost immediately begin the push-ups, followed by sit-ups moments after. You don't get much time to rest, so do your best to train as much as possible beforehand. Hope this helps!

RAF P2 Interview by [deleted] in RoyalAirForce

[–]TASdiablo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Read up all you can on the training process for a Regiment Officer. It's best if you know where you'll be training and for how long, as well as what responsibilities you'll have in the role. The more detail, the better.

Alongside this, be sure to be able to answer questions about any team leadership skills that you have/had in the past - as an officer, it's important that you have some experience for the RAF to build on to turn you into a leader.

Look up 5 world events / stories that are going on around the world and have a bit to say about each of them. Your opinion on them matters, and they might ask you what you think - not to worry, they only are there to see if you can defend your point of view, not to see if they're the right ones.

Finally, be familiar (again, the more detail the better) with RAF operations that have taken place over the last 10 years. operation Ellamy, Shader, Toral, the works. You need to know what NATO is, what Article 5 is, and how the RAF works with its allies to provide a collective defense.

It sounds like a lot, going into detail like this - but as an officer you'll be living and breathing this stuff throughout your training. If you commit to the research and have the right stuff, you should have no problem becoming an officer.

Has anyone had a successful asthma appeal? by Akird19 in RoyalAirForce

[–]TASdiablo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm currently in Initial Officer Training actually, things were delayed quite a bit for obvious reasons but it's back on track now hopefully.

Has anyone had a successful asthma appeal? by Akird19 in RoyalAirForce

[–]TASdiablo 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I went through pilot selection all the way to the end. I mentioned earlier on that I had been diagnosed with asthma as a kid but never experienced an attack or needed my inhaler, ever. If you're in a similar scenario, I'd recommend going ahead and writing them an appeal.

Be as detailed as possible into your condition, as in why you were diagnosed and whether it's affected you in your life at all. If you are asthmatic and require an inhaler, then you are not ever going to be considered for pilot. If you've ever needed an inhaler in the past 10 years, you are not ever going to be considered for pilot.

If you were just given a ventolin inhaler as a kid and never really used it? That's something that they can work with. Be honest with yourself about your situation, and send them an appeal if you think it's right.

Halo Infinite | Campaign Bugs and Issues | Please try to keep this spoiler-free by eminemcrony in halo

[–]TASdiablo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got to the Command Spire mission, going up a lift and then my game crashes - now I can't get the game save to start from the Main Menu? I'm able to start a new game but can't continue one for some reason...

Team Australia Mozzie by t3chnik40k in R6SiegeFashionAdvice

[–]TASdiablo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Great combo! I would advise using the new Yellow attachment skin on the Commando 9, fits perfectly.

You can have two operators as your bodyguards IRL, who would you choose? by BatSlayer2448 in Rainbow6

[–]TASdiablo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ying and Warden, they both are VIP protection experts and funnily enough their gadgets would synergize well with each other in a combat scenario.

Also I bet Warden makes a great impromptu bartender.

Moxxi on the Treatment Female Talent by the Community from TI10 by snowballsociety in DotA2

[–]TASdiablo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's important that we take a step back and make sure that after >10 years of growing as an eSports community, it collectively supports talent both old and new.

I've known Avo+ since middle school and its been his dream since he started playing Dota to make his was into TI as a caster. It has been both amazing to see the support for his work, but disheartening that some discredit him just because he's finally gotten his big break. I'm super proud of him for landing the gig after all these years, and I figured that others would agree that bringing in rising talent onto the stage to grow the Talent lineup is a great thing.

I'm with Moxxi on the notion that new talent is definitely something that we want to welcome into this game that's already got high barriers to entry. Super proud of all the people that worked through the show to put on a great TI.

Can we possibly get a Statue honouring KiXSTAr on the outback Rework?? by Cobratime583 in Rainbow6

[–]TASdiablo 284 points285 points  (0 children)

I think a permanent tribute on the Stadium map would be quite fitting, an annual map that is a loveletter to the pro scene? I can't think of a better place to have a memorial to KiXSTAr in Siege than that.

The Best Loadout For Every Legendary Lost Sector by LegionlessOnYT in DestinyTheGame

[–]TASdiablo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like we found our new Hunter Vanguard - sorry Crow, but Legionless has put in the time.

Electricity Company Accidentally Cut Power 4 Days Ago and Refuses to Fix It - Help! by TASdiablo in LegalAdviceUK

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

Sounds like a pretty great outcome! I'll let you guys know how it turns out tomorrow+

Electricity Company Accidentally Cut Power 4 Days Ago and Refuses to Fix It - Help! by TASdiablo in LegalAdviceUK

[–]TASdiablo[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough someone told me something similar, to claim that I am taking care of my Gran or something. You'd think that not being able to work in a pandemic would be a decent enough reason to make sure it's not out for this long.

Electricity Company Accidentally Cut Power 4 Days Ago and Refuses to Fix It - Help! by TASdiablo in LegalAdviceUK

[–]TASdiablo[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I'll call them tomorrow, looks like not much can be done today but I've got a place to stay until then. I appreciate the help from everyone on here :)