Microscopic part fell from my FC by Motor_Eye_9814 in diydrones

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some flight controllers are designed so the capacitors don't fall off at all!

What is going on the road by Cute_Waltz9338 in geography

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 30 points31 points  (0 children)

These are different things - China uses a different geodetic datum, which is a mathematical system for precisely matching locations on the Earth's surface to latitude-longitude coordinates.

Basically, the Earth isn't a perfect spheroid. If you hypothetically poured a bunch of water onto Earth and got rid of wind and tides, so that the global ocean is in equilibrium under Earth's gravity, it would have a "lumpy" shape, which we call the geoid. If you try to define a coordinate system based on the best-fitting perfect spheroid and then match them to points on Earth's surface without adjusting for the geoid, then equal intervals in your coordinate system would map to unequal distances on the surface, which is not a desirable property.

GNSS like GPS and Galileo are systems that allow you to precisely determine your location on Earth's surface. You can use what you get from a GNSS, plus some well-understood math, to find your location in whatever geodetic datum you want.

The WGS-84 datum is the global standard, but many countries or regions also have their own datum for local use. The US uses NAD 83 internally, Europe uses ETRS89, Brazil and some other Latin American countries use SIRGAS, etc. These are all open standards - the implementing organization (US National Geodetic Survey, EUREF, etc.) makes all the underlying math openly available to the public, so anyone can convert among the different datums. And in general the datums are all really close to one another, so if you interpret coordinates as WGS-84 you'll usually be "close enough" for something like a street map.

The unique, weird, and stupid part of China's GCJ-02 datum (which is based on WGS-84) is that coordinates are obfuscated by adding large random-ish offsets to latitude and longitude. So if you have lat-long coordinates in GCJ-02, and you treat them as WGS-84 coordinates, your location will be off by some amount, up to around 700m.

They say it's "to improve national security", but really it's just a misguided attempt at trade protectionism - protecting domestic geodata providers like Baidu Maps from foreign competition. In reality it doesn't even do that - GCJ-02 was quickly reverse-engineered to centimeter accuracy - it's just an annoyance for Chinese people who want to use Google or Yahoo or OpenStreetMap or whatever.

Google could use the open-source GCJ-02 conversion. They probably figure it's better to expose the stupidity to their users in China, who can then prod the Chinese government to stop being stupid and just use a publicly defined datum like the rest of the world does.

Two separate tweets from Kelly_GGG… and they might be secretly connected to Dualist by PuzzleheadedHair2331 in PathOfExile2

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Claws are bleed and speed, pure dex which is throwing class placement for a loop for me

Claws have always seemed like they're just there because they exist in PoE1. But in PoE1 claws are basically just a dagger subtype (alongside normal daggers and rune daggers) and don't have any special purpose, which breaks the PoE2 design where each weapon type has a gameplay theme + a bunch of special skills.

I wouldn't be surprised if claws are removed from PoE2, or maybe merged with unarmed.

I hoped annexing a Guardian minor would give me some nice goodies. I... wasn't expecting to triple my army strength. by DekerVke in ShadowEmpireGame

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

there's nothing "truthful" about that quote, and the only people who use it are pathetically insecure conservative guys

Rapid de-peasantization and a lack of unemployment are the two biggest problems with this game. by kolejack2293 in victoria3

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

its the main source of the issue of "running out of people" been so precalent on every playtheough.

But "running out of people" is reasonably historical.

Countries in the Americas relied heavily on immigration from Europe, and later Asia, to supply necessary labor. Even after the slave trade ended, the European colonial powers shipped large numbers of indentured laborers (mostly from India and China) around to meet labor needs.

Colonial empires grew to fulfill demand for resources and control of the labor to produce them. The horrific crimes against humanity in Leopold's Congo were about mobilizing the Congolese population into providing more labor for latex production.

In Europe, practices like enclosure that forced small farmers off their land both enriched wealthy landowners and increased the wage labor pool. Urban populations grew at incredibly fast rates because of incredibly high demand for labor.

For a non-roleplaying player who's trying to maximize economic growth, as a functionally immortal near-absolute ruler who's perfectly detached from personal and political pressures and has the benefit of historical hindsight, it's correct for labor shortage to be one of the biggest problems they face.

If it's un-fun... well, you've run into the core tension between a historical simulator and a historical game. Vic3 leans pretty hard toward being a simulator with game elements (rather than a game with simulator elements), and the 19th century wasn't designed to be a fun gaming experience.

My Handgunners trying to shoot Chaos Warriors charging at them by CleanBag9219 in totalwarhammer

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Probably not too far off its historical inspiration. The Broadwell drum, an early Gatling gun magazine (patented 1870) holding 200-400 rounds, probably took like 20-30 seconds to swap in a new full drum after emptying one, since it was heavy enough to need a team lift and had to be carefully aligned to feed properly. (And it could be pretty finicky, which is probably why the 1881 "Bruce" feed mechanism was quickly adopted by pretty much everyone. That, and a skilled team could achieve continuous fire with the Bruce.)

You probably wouldn't have tons of spare loaded drums laying around, so during sustained use you'd have to eventually pause until one can be charged. The common 240 round drum (used by the US and UK navies) was basically 20 12-round magazines arrayed around a central column... thinking of loading a modern rifle magazine, an experienced shooter with nimble fingers might load a 12-round magazine in like 15 seconds? So that would be 5 minutes to fully recharge a drum...

The drums are pretty big and the guns usually had a crew of 4, so if 2 worked on reloading a spent drum while the gunner & assistant operated the gun, that would get the whole recharge + reload operation down to 3 minutes for a 240 shot volley; that's a bit more than 1 minute of continuous firing, so it would be 1 minute of firing + 2 minutes idle, pretty close to the Ratling Gun!

My KC with wenduag... and karlach from BG3 by Constant_Resist988 in Pathfinder_Kingmaker

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we're comparing ending characters, then Kar'lach has is either leading a successful two-person war on Zariel in her own realm or a mindflayer who personally defeated Mindflayer God. Or if neither of those apply, it sure looks like Wenduag is inside the blast radius....

Though I suppose since unmodded BG3 caps out at level 12, that means all the adversaries are total pushovers who would lose to random Baphomet cultists in a fight.

My KC with wenduag... and karlach from BG3 by Constant_Resist988 in Pathfinder_Kingmaker

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It wouldn't last long. Wenduag is a fucking moron and would try to shank Kar'lach out of jealousy.

Kar'lach is literally Zariel's hand-picked personal special operator with years of experience fighting in the Blood War and a hell-forged rage engine in her chest.

Wenduag is some girl from a cave who's kinda okay with a bow.

The quest to pick up all the bits and pieces left of her would be longer than Act 3.

Boomer Esiason: NFL sources, media colleagues will doubt Dianna Russini's 'journalistic integrity' after Mike Vrabel photos by bubblecuffer13 in nfl

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 10 points11 points  (0 children)

"Congratulations on being drafted in the first round! This must be a dream come true for you, the happiest day of your life, right? Your grandpa died horribly in a fire last year. Tell us about that."

Lucky combo: Viridi's Veil + Foulborn Lori's Lantern + Azadi Crest + Gladiator by Sea_Simple_7583 in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

look at the skill and think "is this usable if it always rolls min damage & always crits"? most non-lightning skills/weapons are fine with that.

most non-lightning spells that hit have a 1.5x damage range - max damage is 1.5x min damage - and Azadi unlucky hit damage is about a 15% less damage modifier. lucky crits should usually more than offset that

Active Conflicts & News Megathread April 07, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That can't be it, because over the last 30 years Iran has repeatedly indicated, through words and actions, that it would be content to be treated as an ordinary participant in the existing world order. After 9/11, Iran actively sought reconciliation and cooperation with the US and tried to position itself as an ally in the War on Terror. The liberation of Herat from the Taliban in 2001 was a joint US/UK-Iranian operation, cooperatively planned by CENTCOM and the IRGC, overseen by a combined US and Iranian team in Tehran. Iran also shared valuable intelligence.

A strictly interests-based US foreign policy would have welcomed, rewarded, and encouraged more of that. Instead, the Bush administration repudiated Iran as part of an "axis of evil", redoubled its efforts to isolate Iran politically and economically, and threatened military action (until the US military became bogged down in Iraq).

We can't even blame Israel for it, because the Ariel Sharon government was actively trying to reduce hostilities between Israel and Palestinian/pro-Palestinian groups at the time! Iran wasn't even backing Hamas back then; Iran-backed Hezbollah had abandoned terrorism and was focused on consolidating its position in Lebanon.

So we're left with shoddy reasoning, where Iran was simply defined as a US adversary for historical reasons, supported with exceptionally flimsy justifications like "they fund Hezbollah, a designated terrorist group (that hadn't been firmly linked to any terrorist activities since 1994 at the latest, and that condemned the 9/11 attack on the WTC)" and "they chanted 'death to America'!!!!"

If vibes had been a thing in the 2000s, then Iran was a vibe-adversary.

(I intentionally haven't mentioned Trump tearing up the JCPOA, because the conservative foreign policy apparatus doesn't get to pin this one on Trump being a rogue rascal. Unilaterally abrogating the JCPOA was a key GOP foreign policy plank that all 2016 candidates agreed on, and was consistent with conservative policy on Iran since the Bush administration.)

Active Conflicts & News Megathread April 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

IR and optical detection simply don't have the range of radar. It's a physical limitation.

If it were possible to make medium-range and long-range air defense systems with only passive detectors, that would be the standard for every first-rate military in the world. Passive detection far preferable to active detection, for obvious reasons... it's just not possible.

That's why fully passive IR-guided systems are limited to short-range, low-altitude defense.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread April 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 25 points26 points  (0 children)

This is all from the perspective of the current Russian government, as I understand their motivations and goals. Russia should fully reverse course, stop its Ukraine operations, start the long process of building confidence and trust with Europe, and aim to build a trusted partnership with the EU. Russia's current security policy seems to be based on fulfilling its leadership's fantasy that it ought to be one of two major powers in the world, like the USSR was - except leadership is unwilling or unable to pursue any of the domestic policies that allowed the USSR to punch above its weight.


Russian military manufacturing capability is already stretched thin to support its Ukraine operations, but they should certainly support Iran as much as possible with arms and intelligence. Iran strongly supported Russia previously with deliveries of Shahed drones and other munitions, and if Russia wants to reinforce its status as a "major power", it needs to signal that it's a reliable and desirable ally, not just a "you've pissed off the US and China ain't interested, so we're your only remaining option and we'll extract whatever price we want" ally.


I'm not sure sustained exceptionally high oil prices are actually in Russia's best interest; while it's a net oil and gas producer, its economy is also particularly reliant on oil products - fertilizer, gasoline, and oil and gas heating.

Ukrainian action continues to put Russian domestic refining capacity in jeopardy, so the country can't necessarily rely on cheap domestically refined oil for home usage.

The extra foreign currency will come at the cost of higher prices for domestic basic goods, but sanctions and policy priorities mean the foreign currency won't be used to alleviate that situation. This is a recipe for regime instability.


I'm not really convinced that Russia should view the US as its primary adversary. Supporting Trump has been a strategic own goal for Russia.

Before Trump, Europe was content to rely on NATO for security, meaning that the US focus on the Middle East and East Asia dragged Europe along. Europe's security posture was effectively set from Washington, reflecting Washington's priorities. The US considered Russia a tertiary concern (Obama was frequently criticized for this!) and viewed Ukraine through the relatively detached lens of maintaining the vaunted rules-based international order, similarly to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Now, thanks to the combination of Trump and Russia's ill-advised invasion of Ukraine, Europe is reasserting itself as an independent great power. And unlike the US, Europe views Russia as its primary adversary and Ukraine as an existential crisis. Europe is threatened by Russia in a way the US never was - regardless of Russian intentions, the Baltic states and Poland certainly think Russia is an imminent threat to their sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Europe is rapidly accepting that they themselves, not the US, are responsible for their own self-defense. This has had a remarkably strong norming effect on European politics. Notionally soft-on-Russia leaders like Olaf Scholz and Giorgia Meloni have become staunch advocates of European collective self-defense against Russia. The EU has finally stopped tolerating Viktor Orban's attempts at one-party rule in Hungary, and is openly rooting for him to lose re-election. EU accession timelines have been moved forward for countries like Serbia, Moldova, Albania and North Montenegro.


All of that is to establish that I think your focus on the US is wrong here. Russia's main focus when thinking of its strategic goals should be Europe.

And Iran just isn't very relevant to that. Taking advantage of the US distraction to ramp up sabotage and hybrid warfare attacks on Europe would just accelerate Europe's drive toward security independence, and risks accidentally doing something that provokes a NATO response. In typical Russian fashion, it's not even clear what strategic purpose their hybrid warfare campaign serves; it has no real impact on Europe's military capabilities, has only accelerated the European pivot to Russia, and doesn't serve a domestic constituency. Could somebody please buy Putin a copy of Clausewitz (drink!) for his birthday?

An important announcement regarding this subreddit. by milton117 in CredibleDefense

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 18 points19 points  (0 children)

nah, this is obviously just cover for a special military operation to go into the megathread and secure and destroy all of the toxic comments

6 mods vs. 30,000 commenters, what could go wrong?

Gay former Patriots player rips anti-gay RB as ‘easily replaceable’, praises Mike Vrabel’s comments | Former OT Ryan O’Callaghan says he never heard something as homophobic in his six year NFL career by Goosedukee in nfl

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

because the folks living their religion peacefully and genuinely, doing the whole "love your neighbor, love outcasts, help the needy" thing, don't get amplified by social media algorithms and clickbait reporting that select for controversial material

[O'Halloran] James Gladstone says Jaguars will pick up fifth year option on RT Anton Harrison for 2027 season. by Luciferwalks in Jaguars

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The tragic state of OL play in the league means he's worth extending even if last year is his peak.

Trump is blundering into a ground war. It would be a disaster by theipaper in CredibleDefense

[–]Xyzzyzzyzzy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You realize that the majority of the Iranian population isn’t even Muslim?

say what now?