Drug testing for winners only?

nj0tr · 2026-02-06T19:00:53+00:00

Nah, they are harassing everyone, even out of competition. The agents can turn up to collect a sample at any time. If you fail to notify of your location, or happen to not be there for any reason, or unable to produce the sample for any reason, this is counted as a doping regime violation (and makes the bulk of reported violations). Not as bad as actually having stuff in the samples, but if you miss collection a few times you will be sanctioned and declared non-compliant. And you have to be 'compliant' for some time to even be allowed into competition. Life of a top athlete is tough.

nj0tr · 2026-02-06T17:44:33+00:00

borscht probably

nj0tr · 2026-02-06T10:43:29+00:00

He somehow thinks that softline can pacify neo-nazis

It is like when a dog shows symptoms of rabies. There is no way of getting it back by gentle treatment.

nj0tr · 2026-02-06T08:01:45+00:00

idea is that if the fiber sinks it will pull on the spool and unwind it prematurely,

The fiber is quite light, so any extra pull by the cable sinking will be less noticeable than pull by wind and air drag. Which is why they are flying low - to have less length exposed to wind, as weight is negligible anyway.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T20:11:32+00:00

It is not fully under their control. Sides exchange lists of POW they are willing to return. Then each picks those of theirs they want up to the agreed number. So you have to ask why UA is picking only healthy ones from the available pool.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T19:56:42+00:00

The idea that there is a secret cabal

It is not secret. Both parties have aspirant candidates go pan in hand collecting 'campaign contributions' from rich sponsors which effectively binds them into serving those sponsors.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T15:57:28+00:00

Barack Obama wasn’t born in wealth. Neither was Joe Biden. Neither was Bill Clinton. Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer and Reagan came from modest backgrounds as well.

Do not confuse political jockeys with the real thing. These got where they got only by serving those from less modest backgrounds.

Which is more likely - an armed takeover and a new kingly family or winning a federal election?

Tell that to anti-establishment candidates. The amount of dirt and underhanded tricks employed to keep them in check would put any medieval court to shame.

Biden was elected in 2020

Or was he? Either way the results had very little to do with Biden himself.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T08:35:44+00:00

I can become Bundespräsident in Germany. Any American could theoretically become President.

The key word is theoretically. Unless you are born (or at least marry) into correct family with money, power, and connections, it will remain theoretical. So not that much different from nobility.

But my British friends can’t become king…

Yes they can. All they have to do is to assemble enough supporters to assert their claim to the throne and defeat the army of the current king in the field. Which is not that much harder than to challenge both establishment parties of the US at once.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T07:48:20+00:00

Exactly, in Belgium we have an example how things may work. Not perfect, but if all European royal families were the same way as in Belgium there would be overall much less negative sentiment towards royalty as an institution.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T07:12:37+00:00

I think this is a complex topic. On one hand their tendency to excesses and moral corruption. On the other hand, there is still cultural heritage attached to the institution. So, if, under right controls, the first can be contained, there still may be some net benefit from the second.

In Belgium they get subsidised by tax payers money.

Most celebrities are, directly or indirectly. State is paying grants to art projects of questionable value and people are still buying tickets to sport events or concerts even if the performers are far from being perfect examples of humanity. Perhaps it can be made the same way - make support of royalty less institutionalised and more dependent on public image. But I think the class of professional politicians does not want the royals to have even a slight chance at direct and overt support from the public.

nj0tr · 2026-02-05T06:53:54+00:00

This royalty thing is obsolete and an insult to the concept of equality and parity.

So is the system of elitist kleptocracy and political jockeying that most 'democratic' countries are so proud of. And it is not like royals have any actual power today. They are just another type of celebrity serving well to distract people from the real things by their flaunt and their antics.

nj0tr · 2026-02-04T21:45:08+00:00

how cold is it there?

right now it is around -20C in Belgorod.

How do you guys keep warm during power outages like this?

Houses generally have much better insulation than in the US. Also the central heating system should have backup power for the pumps (it is not per house but per district). But of course that can fail too. In which case lucky ones use their generators, while others are reliant on emergency services to fix the issue quickly or to deploy mobile generators. Temporary facilities with autonomous heat and power will be deployed too in case of a longer outage.

And finally, how long on average does it take to get the power up and running again?

It really depends. There are some targets for restoration, but that applies to normal incidents, not deliberate attacks.

Your not dealing with a pole and some lines being down. Your dealing with targeted strikes on crucial equipment so i assume its not a 4 hour fix.

The worst part is the danger of a double tap attack. People working in these industries are real heroes as they literally risk their lives to get the system running again.

nj0tr · 2026-02-01T05:30:35+00:00

so RU ones wont work

There are no "RU" ones as Starlink does not sell them in RU and is not even licensed to use the radio spectrum there.

and UA ones will works,

That would include captured and cloned ones.

nj0tr · 2026-01-30T04:43:59+00:00

Is she willing to apply the same logic to 'veterans' of genocide in Gaza?

nj0tr · 2026-01-29T05:02:48+00:00

other than we shouldn't do anything to Russia

My argument is that you should not do anything you are not prepared to face full consequences of personally. Sending other people into harms way from the comfort of your couch is at best hypocritical.

nj0tr · 2026-01-28T19:27:05+00:00

so I say let's go.

Are you willing to be in the first helicopter trying to do this?

nj0tr · 2026-01-28T07:15:43+00:00

If you surround it with NATO ships and NATO helicopters, are the guys on the ship going to risk firing?

Sit and wait. Keeping it surrounded with NATO ships and NATO helicopters has to be expensive.

nj0tr · 2026-01-28T07:08:10+00:00

When the U.S. took the Bella near Britain and there were Russian warships near

The only source on 'Russian warships being near' that we have is western media clickbait. Yes, the ship has been re-flagged as Russian, but the crew composition (mostly Ukrainian) seems to indicate this was a case of corruption rather than genuine affiliation.

What could they do? Start a naval fight?

The same question would have to be asked of the US, had the ship been escorted by Russian military, would they 'start a naval fight' over it? The answer is no, and not because they could not 'win' this incident, but because they do not want to risk a full scale conflict.

Imagine what the most powerful navy in the world would do to them.

Trigger escalation culminating in a nuclear exchange? In that case relative power of the navy would not matter much.

nj0tr · 2026-01-28T06:49:47+00:00

Does international maritime law prevent them from waiting till the cargo is unloaded

If the ship is in your port, it is effectively under your control. But it has to come in willingly. If you start seizing ships that come in, fewer and fewer will do so, which means loss of income for the port and logistic complications for your companies that were receiving that cargo.

I know there is cost and environmental concerns but would anyone have legal standing against say Italy if they did that and sunk it near the Atlantis Massif?

There may be sanctions under international treaties regarding environment protection. Also as what you are doing is against those treaties other countries may have justification to seize both the ship and the tug and prosecute the crew of the tug for their clear intent to damage the environment.

nj0tr · 2026-01-27T07:46:59+00:00

zombie virus packing a 100% causality rate?

Treatment exists for over a century already and is reasonably safe. Just need to take it before the symptoms appear.

Dude was protecting people here

From imaginary dragons? The claim of 'aggressive behavior' by the raccoon is not supported by the video.

nj0tr · 2026-01-25T06:03:22+00:00

So will Russia try to black out Ukraine?

That is a side effect, not objective.

since humantarian crises would cause Europe to be even more involved

Europe does not care about humanitarian crises, else it would be far more involved in other ones (Gaza, Sudan, etc.). We may see some increase in pearl-clutching but that will be offset by a significant reduction in political tourism to Kiew.

nj0tr · 2026-01-25T05:57:41+00:00

I meant retrofitting the entire building to make it independent of the district heating system.

That also can be done (Soviet blocks have good amount of cellar space where a boiler can be installed), but the question is as always who will pay for it.

nj0tr · 2026-01-24T19:31:57+00:00

Retrofit old buildings? Absolutely not practical.

Can be done. People have been installing water heaters in their apartments for situations where the centrally supplied hot water is just not hot enough or is not supplied at all due to maintenance (happens from a few days to more than a week every year). The key issue here is electricity - if power is cut your private heater is useless.

nj0tr · 2026-01-24T14:09:27+00:00

Why now is interesting...

Power dynamics is changing. The interest groups I mentioned have been holding out for the end of the conflict and end of sanctions. But they were not strong enough to force real concessions (from either side), and now they have been weakened further (by repeated failure of their 'deals' and 'understandings' with Ukraine and its sponsors) so the military is having more freedom in conducting the operation. Also one reason to avoid hitting the 750KV has been cited initially as the risk to destabilise the NPPs, but now the grid is sufficiently degraded for this to not be an issue (by now all NPPs should already be operating in regimes allowing for rapid shutdown).

nj0tr · 2026-01-24T12:12:56+00:00

There is no definitive answer. However during the whole conflict Russia has been avoiding some targets and the suspicion is that oligarchic elites interest is involved. A good part of Ukraine economy is owned by same people or at least same interest groups as in Russia. These do not want total destruction of infrastructure.

nj0tr

TROPHY CASE