patrick.net

GNL says

Headset, I'm curious what made you join the military? Also, how many years have you been out now?

I joined because I liked the idea of military service and to fly jets. I got out in 1995.

HeadSet says

GNL says

Headset, I'm curious what made you join the military? Also, how many years have you been out now?

I joined because I liked the idea of military service and to fly jets. I got out in 1995.

Did you give any thought to whether or not you would be fighting on moral grounds? It's just a question. I'm not attacking you.

https://asiatimes.com/2023/07/taiwans-hawk-missiles-likely-headed-to-ukraine/

GNL says

Did you give any thought to whether or not you would be fighting on moral grounds?

At age 19 or so, when I went to a Service Academy, I was a strong believer in national defense. I still am. As you may have guessed, I served with hundreds of others (of all races) who were willing to risk their lives to defend the USA. Very naive for anyone to believe the country does not need a military. Just like those who think that police are evil and thus call for police departments to be disbanded. Playing the accuser while claiming a moral high ground is as easy as it is hypocritical. For example:

Mexican cartels are fed by America's irresponsible appetite for drugs and these cartel members are the most vicious criminals on Earth. If you do dope, coke, or other smuggled drugs you are putting money directly into the hands of people who murder over 35,000 people per year. One cartel member, who is still free, blew up an entire airliner full of passengers just to kill one politician who was aboard. There are mass graves of innocents caught up between cartel wars. Think anyone cares who gets killed, as long as they get their high?

Back in the 1960s, it was common for moms to sew their kids' clothes from patterns. It was cheaper than buying, since clothing at the time was made in the USA at union shops. Kids clothes are stupidly cheap now and patterns are unheard of. The reason clothes are so cheap is because they are made by slaves in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and China under conditions that would not be tolerated in the US. Similar situation with your Apple or other smartphone, plus computers and other electronics. Think any of these buyers care about slavery? New Balance for a time made running shoes in New Jersey and in China. The same model shoe from New Jersey cost $10 more than the Chinese counterpart. Seems like Americans would gladly pay that $10 extra for shoes made using American labor and pollution standards like I did, right? Nope, the New Jersey operation was shut down and all New Balance shoes are slave wage imports. As long as they can save a buck, no one cares about slave and child labor. If you own an electric car, did you care about the children who labored to mine the cobalt for that battery?

I understand. I just can't imagine realizing I wasn't defending America is all. It would bother me. Of course we need a military. But not an offensive one. No, it should be for defense. You have to see it from the rest of the world's eyes also. IMO.

Do you think we should be fighting Russia? Do you blame China for defending their area of influence the same as America does ours? We need a multi power world otherwise we undoubtedly will get world tyranny. That's not hype.

richwicks says

I'd design a quad copter to drop in a lawn dart into their head. That's SIMPLE to do.

Really kid, simple? Please elaborate, as I know many folks who would love this to take out coyotes and other vermin. I am aware of using hunting drones with night vision to spot coyotes and the like, but that only gives the location. How would you aim this "lawn dart?" How would you account for wind? I would be impressed if you were able to fly a drone 100 feet up and drop a bar room dart to pop a red toy balloon set in the field below.

I have a lot of respect for the majority of those in the military, as many of them date the tradition back several generations. They are Americans first, and hold to some very honorable ideals. Outside the top brass, most of them are unaware of the military industrial complex.

But I would be just fine with no standing army. We didn't need it to defeat one of the greatest empires in world history, and we don't need it now. As long as we have access to any and all armaments like we did back then, that's all we need. I don't expect the army to fight for my freedom if I'm not willing to do it myself.

On the slave wage argument, I don't see it. Unless the people are physically shackled to their workstation, they have a choice. That's like saying San Diego is a slave housing market because I have to pay prices I can barely afford. It ignores my ability to find under market rentals, or leave the market entirely.

BigSky says

Really kid, simple? Please elaborate

Yeah, tremendously simple and an infra-red camera. They are cheap.

All you need is some servos on the fins and a heat sensitive camera. Identify the target, and home in - do you seriously not realize how easy this would be to do? It's easy to kill anything. I'm not a sociopath though, that why I oppose my government. They are sociopaths.

It's very simple to kill somebody, but it has little if any utility.

Want to keep ducks out of your pool? Simple, just have a machine that chases them relentlessly when a heated object is detected. I'll do that, easy to do. I won't kill though.

BigSky says

How would you aim this "lawn dart?" How would you account for wind?

Just a simple servo mechanism.

It would have to be an active dart, but it's a shitload cheaper and humane than a drone that killed 100 people at wedding party, to SUPPOSEDLY take out a single person. Identifying your target would be the difficulty.

Our military PURPOSELY creates terrorists. We, after all, need some reason to support this criminal gang of fucks after all. This is all a stage. If Biden was the real fucking thing behind arming Ukraine, why don't the Russians kill him? Pretty easy to do it. The man is extremely old, very feeble. Just put a drop of organic mercury on him, he's dead in a month, it would feel like a single raindrop. He would slowly lose his mind (even more so) then die. An autopsy would be able to reveal what happened though. There's a million other ways that aren't detectable, but I'm not a murderer, and although I have looked at this shit, I don't want to share it.

Anybody with any level of competency, can murder anybody without any threat of them being caught. It was just a mental exercise for me at one point. I have no desire to murder anybody, I don't think it would change anything for the better.

I wouldn't kill anybody, most likely. I'd kill to protect, that would be the only possible reason, and it would be a last resort.

Here's something from the 1980's, it was a missile that used a fiber optic cable to allow the person that fired it to steer it in to the target. The cable was connected to the rocket, wasn't burned away, and the person just steered it into the target with a camera feed. Just like a video game. That technology is 40 years old. If you just want to eliminate the enemy, it's easy, it's a question of cost versus lives. Lives have a cost. Sometimes it's cheaper to kill a human being to do the same thing. Reducing the cost of technology will eliminate that, but they still kill people. They don't think we have any worth at all.

richwicks says

Yeah, tremendously simple and an infra-red camera. They are cheap.

I thought you were referring using an on-board camera to hover directly over and site in a target an then drop the dart on a small target 500 or so feet below, after somehow solving the issues with platform stability, wind and making an accurate bombsight in the first place. But now I see you are actually referring to a IR guided device. I do not know what "cheap" cameras you are referring to, but to get a useful IR reading you will need at least 3x3 pixels. No toy camera is going to have the resolution to get 3x3 pixels on human sized objects 500 feet away. That would be a challenge for a $30,000 pro inspection camera.

Even if you had raided someone's Arduino project and acquired a cheap camera with sufficient resolution, exactly how would you build the interface between the camera and the servos? I already know how to build a tiny device that could take inputs from a small hobby barometer or accelerometer to actuate hobby servos, but reading from a camera is whole 'nother league.

Remember, you spoke of how simple this was to build for you as a private person, not as some entity with a military budget. Thus, let's not talk about how easy this would be for the government to build. Also, lets keep the discussion as an engineering issue between two tech people and spare us all the anti-government rants.

By the way, if you could actually build that duck chaser, you could make a fortune selling it. Make a version that could chase geese off golf courses as well.

BigSky says

By the way, if you could actually build that duck chaser, you could make a fortune selling it. Make a version that could chase geese off golf courses as well.

Know anybody that can market it?

BigSky says

No toy camera is going to have the resolution to get 3x3 pixels on human sized objects 500 feet away. That would be a challenge for a $30,000 pro inspection camera.

All you need is a Peltier junction, cool it enough to pick up IR.

BigSky says

Even if you had raided someone's Arduino project and acquired a cheap camera with sufficient resolution, exactly how would you build the interface between the camera and the servos? I already know how to build a tiny device that could take inputs from a small hobby barometer or accelerometer to actuate hobby servos, but reading from a camera is whole 'nother league.

Just have a center target, go for the brightest point in the center.

I'm not a murderer, but I'm perplexed that our military "can't figure out" the obvious. There was a guy that made a sniper gun for game, and what you did, was select the point you wanted to hit, then pull the trigger, and it would guide you and fire once you had the right trajectory. Military wouldn't buy it.

What we are sending to Ukraine, and Syria, and Afghanistan, and all these places seem like surplus from WWII. Why would you need a person to be behind a gun today? Use a camera, and a monitor, let it be remotely controlled. They have drones now that just float around patrolling your home.

Drones with mini nukes will solve this targeting problem.

Ceffer says

Drones with mini nukes will solve this targeting problem.

No such thing as a mini nuke really. You need to reach critical mass to create the explosion. There's a limit to how small they can be.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/05/ukrainians-exchange-russian-fighters-drone-order-with-dildos/

Ukrainian hackers exchange Russian fighter’s drone order for dildos

At this point, even dildos could defeat Ukraine.

Ceffer says

At this point, even dildos could defeat Ukraine.

If the story was true. This is US "news" media after all.

All you need to get a story written today, is make up some bullshit that supports the narrative. Our media today is about as real as the National Enquirer was 40 years ago. The National Enquirer hasn't changed, the rest of the media has. They no longer even care about giving the veneer of credibility.

richwicks says

If the story was true. This is US "news" media after all

Yeah. I mean it could happen, but it takes a whole lot less effort for Ukey propagandists to just feed the story to US news media outlets instead.

They have done it before.

Ceffer says

At this point, even dildos could defeat Ukraine.

ukraine they can’t. but san franfagsco has fallen long ago to dildos.

richwicks says

All you need is a Peltier junction, cool it enough to pick up IR.

Oh good God, that is like saying "You do not need a camera, just expose the film to the open air."

richwicks says

Just have a center target, go for the brightest point in the center.

Wow, you sidestepped the interface question with a vague generality on how you think a heat seeking missile works. You clearly do not understand the nature of IR light, and have ignored the need for filtering and discrimination, let alone acquiring the target in the first place from the mass of heat signatures. Even if you did have your magic Peltier sensor, you dodged the direct question on how to interface it with a device to control servos. Remember, you bragged that you could built this dart dropper simple and cheap.

It is clear you have no idea what you are talking about and are now making it up as you go along as an attempt to defend your initial boast. I presume any other blog readers with practical tech experience who read that arrogant boast just rolled their eyes at your obvious ignorance and moved on. You are a fraud who just likes to pretend and run his yap.

BigSky says

It is clear you have no idea what you are talking about and are now making it up as you go along as an attempt to defend your initial boast. I presume any other blog readers with practical tech experience who read that arrogant boast just rolled their eyes at your obvious ignorance and moved on. You are a fraud who just likes to pretend and run his yap.

Congrats: you've discovered our resident ultracrepidarian. :D

Eric Holder says

Congrats: you've discovered our resident ultracrepidarian. :D

Thank you for improving my vocabulary today!

BigSky says

Wow, you sidestepped the interface question with a vague generality on how you think a heat seeking missile works. You clearly do not understand the nature of IR light

I don't fucking care to argue this shit.

You have an IR camera on your phone right now. Did you know that?

This goddamned shit is goddamned cheap. There's nothing high tech about anything anymore. In the 1990's this was mysterious, it isn't now.

If you insist I don't know what I'm talking about, I don't give a shit. I don't care. Been in this fucking nightmare industry too long.

Aren't The Crepidarians a motorcycle gang? Their logo is an upside down winged skull on asphalt mashed brains.

I'm seeing piles of dead Ukrainian soldiers with dildos between their eyes. Those Russians can scramble when called upon.

For those too lazy to look it up. It fits a lot of us around here. There is always a website to confirm our biases.

ultracrepidarian
noun
One who displays traits of ultracrepidarianism.
adjective
Of a critic, giving opinions on something beyond his or her knowledge.
Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
More at Wordnik

If seems to me the drone dart would have to be quite sophisticated. The dart itself at a minimum would have servos micro-adjusting the dart's fins to stay on target. The guidance system would probably be from the drone. I bet the military has already dealt with many of the targeting challenges.
BigSky says

I would be impressed if you were able to fly a drone 100 feet up and drop a bar room dart to pop a red toy balloon set in the field below.

Sounds like a cool high school robotics challenge.

NuttBoxer says

Outside the top brass, most of them are unaware of the military industrial complex.

I hope you are not implying that military are genuinely naive and ignorant and the bottom, and evil at the top. That comes across like those Covid and Global Warming zealots who think that anyone who does not follow "the science" is a dumb hick or an evil grifter leading people astray. Actually, I think the folks who think military enlistees are Gomer Pyles are the naive ones. After all, who do they think maintains the jets, ICBMs, and the hydraulic nightmare known as the Apache helicopter? Who do they think does the civil engineer type maintenance on the massive facilities and infrastructure? It is enlisted shops that do all the automotive maintenance as well as fix the cranes, tanks and related vehicles. These mechanics have skills far surpassing those at your local Cadillac dealer. I remember talking with an enlisted avionics tech about a particular circuit diagram, and wanted to know if he could determine the output. I took EE courses, so I knew how to determine the output with calculus. He was able to quickly determine the output using algebra. The folks who run the very large LANs are enlisted, as are the logisticians who manage billion-dollar inventories and do SURGE report programing. Air Traffic Controllers are also enlisted. Over the decades, the coders who did FORTRAN, ADA, and some more modern languages were enlisted. Of course, the military has extensive training for these jobs, but dummies will not make it through.

Military members are just as aware of the MIC as any civilian, but like every other endeavor, one must take the world as it is, the art of the possible. Soldier and brass alike see the overall positives of their miliary service, even they do not like the part where they have to make do with weapons bought not for need or effectiveness, but to reward a Congressional district (Osprey, C-130J). Nobody likes the MIC, but the fix is for the civilians to vote out the corruption.

I think it is very sad. You say the enlisted know what they are fighting for? Really? If they do know, then the above is what they are supporting. If not, why the hell did they join? There is a time when you have to turn your back on evil. It does not matter how "smart" you are or what skills you gain from the evil. Easy for me to say since I am not a military man? I've turned my back on plenty of family and friends over this stupid shit. Do you think that's a fun and easy thing to do? No, I haven't crawled on my belly in the mud for hours. Or had mace spayed in my face or peeled a 1,000 potatoes. So what. You don't think there's private sector jobs that are just as dirty/difficult? No one in the military has a monopoly on inteligence. That isn't what you're suggesting is it?

Eric Holder says

Congrats: you've discovered our resident ultracrepidarian. :D

That sounds like an Armenian last name!

"Fifth night in a row: a report on the launch of missiles by the Russian army towards Odessa in Ukraine"

Is Russia finally going to take Odessa instead of holding out on it as a bargaining chip?

Onvacation says

If seems to me the drone dart would have to be quite sophisticated. The dart itself at a minimum would have servos micro-adjusting the dart's fins to stay on target. The guidance system would probably be from the drone.

No. All you need to do is keep the target in the field of view. 500 meters up is just 1/2 km, about a quarter mile, you can do digital zoom on your fucking phone camera with that today. Throw some optics on it.

I'm sick of talking about how to MURDER people. I'm just showing it's fucking easy.

How hard do you think it is to have a servo mechanism to control a fucking dart today falling at terminal speed? That too complicated? Sink a bullet, but that doesn't have the control of cross winds. In the 1980's, they had weapons where you put an infra-red laser on the target, and a small and deadly missile would just zoom in on it. That was FORTY YEARS AGO.

Our military equipment costs millions to do a drone strike. The entire MIC is about consuming money, not wining a war. As a result, the next real war we get into, we're going to lose. We'll go bankrupt first, maybe that's the plan. Russia is kicking our ass in Ukraine, with military conscripts who don't want to fight and prisoners. 6:1 kill ratio, after we spent 8 years building up the Ukraine military.

Everybody is like "oh, it's so fucking complicated!" - no it's not. We've had systems like this since the goddamned 1980s, they were expensive then, they sure as fuck aren't now.

This is all stupid. Putin should just put a bounty on some heads, and end this stupid bullshit, but he won't. This is a test between Russia and the US, in terms of military equipment. They are studying our tactics, as we study theirs. Ukrainians, nobody gives a shit about them. They are just a distraction. Russia basically beat us in Syria.

HeadSet says

Military members are just as aware of the MIC as any civilian,

That just means they are pretty much oblivious to it. If you talk to an average american about the "Military Industrial Complex", they're more likely than 50% of the time think you're a conspiracy theorist. Don't fool yourself.

I know super smart people who think that the "unvaccinated pose a threat to the vaccinated" - they don't even question it and god fucking help you if you try to make them question it. Smart people are stupid people. Most of them are just highly educated, not smart.

Propaganda works on everyone. Now what they do is sell the same propaganda in different ways to capture as many people as possible.

HeadSet says

I hope you are not implying that military are genuinely naive and ignorant and the bottom, and evil at the top.

Snowden was. Not at the bottom, and technically a contractor, though he did try for Rangers. So was Manning, closer to the bottom, but definitely had a technical job. At the top I'm guessing you've heard of Oliver North, Henry Kissenger(civilian, but he ran Vietnam), Sherman's genocide to the sea, the commanders who stood down our air defense on 9/11, the ones who green-lighted Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, etc, etc, etc. You think the MIC is just about money?

I'm aware that intelligent people rationalize all kinds of immoral actions because standing against the tide is harder. I've done it, I'm sure you have. Doesn't make it right. I have been contacted for DOD jobs in my field many times. Have seen very, VERY lucrative openings advertising twice what I make for the same work. I won't take them. Not now, not ever. I've never had to murder anyone to feed my family, and I'm not about to start. Not a strong military family, so easier call for me to make.

HeadSet says

Nobody likes the MIC, but the fix is for the civilians to vote out the corruption.

Now that's naive...

The other aspect being overlooked about our military, under Obama they started a HUGE push to get rid of top brass that were loyal to America or the people rather than the government agenda. And recruiting standards have been lowered so much, any fag, dike, or gang banger can easily get in. They want the military to be a beefed up version of the police eventually. Willing to violate Posse Comitatus, willing to kill civilians.

NuttBoxer says

HeadSet says

Nobody likes the MIC, but the fix is for the civilians to vote out the corruption.

Now that's naive...

HAHAHA - that's extremely naive.

Biden wasn't even fucking elected. Supposedly, 25.5 million NEW VOTERS showed up in 2020, our greatest turn out in American history. That's 50% of the entire US population, not just of voting age, the ENTIRE population. The increase was 7% of our entire population.

@HeadSet - we don't have a FUCKING GOVERNMENT. All the need is 50.000001% to believe either we elected these assholes, OR it doesn't matter.

Debbie Wasserman Shultz didn't win her election. We have traitors EVERYWHERE in the government.

Now, then this government fails (and it will, it's when not if), we'll be able to tell what replaces it as either good or bad, if these assholes are executed or not. If they're not, the new boss is the same as the old boss.

richwicks says

we don't have a FUCKING GOVERNMENT. All the need is 50.000001% to believe either we elected these assholes, OR it doesn't matter.

Naive or not, I am looking at the last Virginia Governor race. In 2020, we had obvious fraud in the after-hours tally where Trump in Virginia went from an 18-point lead at poll closing to losing the next day. In 2020, the Republican left many western rural precincts without a Republican rep. These traditionally red districts somehow all voted blue. The same vote fraud was tried by the Dem in the 2021 Governor's race when they had 30,000 unsigned votes on hand in Fairfax County. All the Dems needed to do is keep the margin within 30,000 votes and then have a judge allow those fabricated votes. However, the Republicans manned ALL districts this time and the Republican Youngkin had an 85,000 vote lead. Thus, the Dems did not even bother with those 30k unsigned votes.

OUR GREAT CHRISTIAN LEADER has liberated an Orthodox cathedral:

https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1682892910755282945