This is a continuation of standard Russian military tactics under Papa Jo Stalin Throw bodies at the enemy. Try to overwhelm them. It mostly worked during WW2, but it is why the largest loss of life was in Russia.

There is a difference - no US involvement on Russia's side. The lend/lease program supplied a lot of materiel, weapons, planes, food. Russia was second on the list after Great Britain.

So now, what is left is mostly throwing cannon fodder at Ukraine.

They might want to save a few men in order to replenish the population after whatever the outcome of this latest military action.

The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are indeed our buffer zones. NATO was formed to keep Russia from further implementation of Buffer states that are populated and subservient to Russia. There is a certain advantage to have thousands of miles of water around your country There is no real practical way for a buffer state scenario here. And the US doesn't rule the Atlantic and Pacific.

You might want to claim that the US was protecting itself. Yes, in some form it was. It was also protecting allies. Not many western countries wanted to be living under Stalinist/Russian rule. Stalin and his replacements have rather different methods of handling disagreement. Command Economies are not popular among people who prefer to set their own goals. Seeing the difference between East and West Germany, and the Stalinist attempts to starve West Berlin - a Kind of mini holodomor if you will, and the resulting Berlin Airlift, told us what we needed to know about Stalin's plans.

Don't mistake trolling for anger. and your little hands comment is kinda weird. I thoroughly enjoy pissing you and your ilk off, it feeds me.

Now to weakness - probably not our time to fall yet. Countries do not stay at or near the top forever, and that's a fact. Too much competition, and the so called "Grand Experiment" here in the US will eventually fail. There is no Roman Empire today. There is no British Empire today. No Soviet Union. The question is what will replace the US when that eventually happens?

Of today's players - who do you want to replace the US, and hold the power against the other countries that want the position. Name it. A question of utmost simplicity, no trolling, no humor, no little hands, no patheticness. No name calling. Name the country.

Why wouldn't you? I mean, you'll do better without us.

Perhaps I'm just pointing out who is propping you up. One h8er at a time.

Not expecting individuals to grok that necessarily, but no butt-hurt here, just Enjoying watching where y'all are heading.

I re-read your post. You are correct, and I was way off. I dunno if I posted before my first cup of coffee, but my reading comprehension was really bad. Mea Maxima Culpa!

When Putin came to the helm, it was over. He was KGB.One does not leave KGB or the ideology except by death, or alphabet soup name change.

And while not quite communist, it isn't all that different in practice from before the fall of the USSR, A small class of extreme privilege, and the rest of the country.

Turkey always seemed like an odd fit into NATO. Hungary could be playing with fire. In my assessment of the situation today, the Russian Federation today is not the Soviet Union. Can they come to dominate Europe, or at least create a Stalinesque vision of buffer states? Probably not. I do not think they have enough power. Their difficulties in Ukraine show some serious weaknesses. A country that teaches about the Holodomor in their history classes might just fight back. I would expect most EU countries would also fight back.

Replying after finishing that first cup today. 8^)

It sounds like you believe that the Russian practice of setting up buffer states was a US lie.

Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and errrrm East Germany. They might have a different opinion on Russian peacefulness, and for at least some of us, there was a reason that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was set up.

Europe is pretty clear - they don't like us. Maybe Europe should consider rejuvenating the Warsaw pact, or more accurately the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Sounds like a much nicer deal.

Awesome. I'm with you - the US should;d get out of Europe today, and if you become buffer states for Russia, I believe that is exactly what EU citizens want. You deserve it, and get your Cyrillic dictionary out.

I mean - what should the USA protect countries that hate us? In fact, rathe than fight a war with Russia, why don't you just surrender peacefully and then you will be happy. I'm with you - US pull out of all Europe, and let what happens happen.

Well, as the EU becomes buffer states of Russia, will the US need to help? It is apparent that the EU and its citizens believe that the US is a backwater country, full of fat stupid people who are the most evil humans on th planet. We are treated every day to EU supremacy, where any topic about Rooshia or China gets turned into our fault or a whataboutism within a few posts.

You will come a buffer state, and you will be happier, because the US will leave you alone. You won!, You are no longer under the heels of the worst country on earth. I suggest learning Cyrillic, you'll need it.

Running underground cables isn't the panacea many think it is, however. On my shelf in the office, I have a fulgurite, which in this case is a lump of melted metal from a power line that was underground and struck by lightning. It's cool looking, kinda like an eagle's claw.

Meanwhile, in the newer section of my neighborhood, they got rid of the unsightly power lines in our back yards and replaced them with breakout boxes and transformers in the front yards. The phone ones are especially beautiful, tilting over, rusting away, and who wouldn't want a nice concrete transformer pad right there in the front yard? The aesthetics aspect was oversold, and when there is a lightning strike, the whole front of the yard is often dug up to find the damaged spot - it isn't always obvious.

After listening to some 911 calls, I wonder how the AI system handles panicked calls. Sometimes the human operator has to do some serious calming of the caller to get anything intelligible out of the person making the call.

Not to stand up for the UK - which seems to be attempting to emulate 1984, just 40 years too late - but trying to show Russia and China as shining beacons of free speech isn't a very good comparison. Vladimir doesn't always arrest people who dare to speak, sometimes they just fall out of windows onto the street. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....

I take it that death for saying the wrong thing isn't what you advocate for?

But to the topic at hand, a 911 system based on AI instead of actual intelligence AKA a human deciding what the problem is and responding correctly - well that AI system is a bucket of suck. It is the opposite of what those systems are supposed to do. People will die.

Apple forces nothing on me, and file conversion is a fact of life for professionals. If it is some sort of terrible imposition to you, copying the files in the first place is too much trouble, no matter the platform. It is as "difficult" as opening the program, control-A, then click okay.

You have a terminal case of being argumentative and the need to somehow be right. This weird discussion has lost any point other than to watch you squirm trying to be right, and entertain us. And your anal sex inclusion in the discussion is level 1000 creepy.

There are many ways. I can transfer via bluetooth to a windows computer. I just copied a video I took from my iPhone to my Windows laptop. It was in .mov format, and media player plays it fine.

iPhones do use .heic format as opposed to .jpg or .png . You can get a converter at the Microsoft store. Not really an issue for people hanging out in your "walled garden. When I connect the iPhone to my Mac, it imports the images and movies into photos, then anything I do results in a jpg. Pretty much a non-issue.

Exactly, I do that with my iPhone as well. When I go on vacation, I usually take my Windows laptop along and load my iPhone pix on it. along with my DSLR pix. Then run the heir to jpg converter in the background while I read email or annoy people on slashdot while enjoying a cold brew.

As a user of Apple, Windows, Linux, and Androids, it seems at least to me that you are making what I consider minor differences, that can be overcome easily into something you consider major. And that's okay - we're all entitled to our own opinions and workflows.

The walled garden meme is a bit specious. This is a phone. When I pick it up, I just want it to work. May smartphone is in the same category as my refrigerator or automobile, only a bit more sophisticated. I like that I bring my phone near my Mac, I can operate the phone the same way as I do my Mac. Depends on what people want to do with their phones. Some want to surf porn on a toy screen, some are addicted to social media. I fear even my wife is a little bit addicted, though to a much lesser extent - she doesn't need the validation rush so many get. Me? I just use it to get texts and phone calls.

I'm not certain what you mean by marketing pressure. Did you somehow feel the need to "keep up" with the latest gizmos?

It's all a matter of opinion and temperament. I can do many things at a high level. But messing with my smartphone to do what I consider basic things - no thanks.

And my burn rate is such that these tiny benefits you speak of are rounding errors. A 99 dollar el cheapo Android versus a iPhone 17 Pro Max at ~$1200, or the Galaxy S25 Ultra at ~ $1260 doesn't mean that much.

But 99 dollars? Dood!, you need to get this one: https://www.amazon.com/BLU-Unl.... Stop wasting your money on those overpriced 99 dollar phones, You made of money or something. 59 dollars for the win. Buy smart! The best phone is the cheapest one, You can use the money you save to buy gold or coin. And you are free. 8^)

Maybe that is why they made that Borat Manikini iSock - to hide the phone. I suppose I could go for the deep blue. But why not the black color like on the base iPhone 17?

I mean, it's a matter of personal taste, but it reminds me of attention seeking behavior. And it looks like recycled plastic from those orange traffic cones. It looks cheap.