expected_crayon

I have to go with Bad Lieutenant: Port Call of New Orleans. Everything has gone to shit, the main character is addicted to drugs and spiraling. You 100% expect this movie to be a tragedy with him dying. Then completely unexpectedly everything just works out. I still can’t believe a studio let that happen, but I think I appreciate the movie because it’s so atypical.

Article makes it sound like they expected just the typical barrage of rockets rather than the invasion that occurred. I’m not convinced this is evidence Israel wanted the attack - with the Iron Dome they likely had sufficient protections against rockets. Neither this nor the reported Egyptian warning appear to have provided details to make one expect what was essentially a ground invasion.

McCarthy also tried his best to cause the government to shutdown. He brought the CR to a vote with no notice, Dems had to stall the vote just to get to the floor in time to prevent its failure. Then McCarthy went on the Sunday talk shows and blames Dems for almost shutting down the gov by not getting to the vote in time. McCarthy intentionally brought the CR to a vote the way it did thinking that if it failed he could then blame Dems for missing the vote. He just got unlucky that they got there in time to save the government.

Everyone Musk defames should sue him. Death by a thousand paper cuts.

This is interesting. My Hyundai when it gets software updates (usually just updating the built in GPS) tells me the update can continue even when the car is off. Didn’t realize not all new cars could do that.

I think it’s Airheads.

Typically government employees have been given back pay after shutdowns, but it’s not guaranteed. It has to be included in the spending bill that ends the shutdown.

ETA: as noted below, a law was passed in 2019 guaranteeing back pay for federal employees. Federal contractors are still not guaranteed back pay.

The problem is a lot of executive compensation packages are based on short term growth rather than long term growth. So CEOs are incentivized to maximize profits today at the expense of tomorrow so they can get that sweet sweet bonus money. It’s a fundamental flaw with our entire economic system that I don’t think is likely to fix itself.

In addition to what others have said, Russia’s fleet has been very susceptible to drone attacks. They have gone to great efforts to protect their ships from such attacks, and in doing so it has greatly reduced their ability to quickly move the ships. It’s likely the reason Ukraine has been able to guide cargo ships out of Odessa and into Romanian waters.

Holding the platforms will likely be easier than taking them, because Ukraine can set-up anti-air and anti-ship defenses on the platform. This weaponry probably couldn’t be set-up well on small ships, but the stable platforms should provide good launching points.

ETA: Russia also likely does not want to destroy the platforms, as they are both strategically useful and useful for economic purposes should Russia ever be able to operate them as oil rigs. So, they can’t simply blow them up without giving up something they want.

Not as nice as these but I’ve seen similar lights used in hospitals. To give bed bound patients who can’t or shouldn’t necessarily be rolling over something nicer to look at than a fluorescent ceiling light.

Decades of budget cuts by Congress have made it so they just don’t have the staff necessary to untangle the web of financial transactions that the ultra-wealthy use to hide their tax evasion. Using AI allows them to do so despite the perpetual budget cuts.

Yet he’s taking DoD money for Starlink in Ukraine. At what point do his antics turn from the craziness of a billionaire to espionage and being deemed a Russian asset?