People make the mistake of thinking Russian culture is more-or-less the same as western European culture (I blame racism, but whatever). It is not. Putin views Russian history with an almost mystical reverence and his place in it will be either victory or death. He is committed to a Russian Ukraine and sees one that is a NATO member to be an existential threat. Losing that war will, in his mind probably, a) solidify his place in Russian mythos and b) convert Ukraine into a rump state. He is comfortable with either outcome and, if the U.S. wants to be involved, it needs to commit to one or the other, something that American public will is incapable of doing.

Iran is a theocracy. One that follows a particular strain of "Twelver Shia" that includes the belief that they have to burn the world down so that the Mahdi can return to herald the return of Jesus, who will kill all the Jews. Basically, a Satanic doomsday cult. And no, I didn't slip "Satanic" in there for fun, their eschatology (study of the end) is almost a perfect mirror image of Christian eschatology complete with Beast, Antichrist, and the Beast's number and markings, but as the good guys.

They want the war to be globalized ASAP. That's why they would do it.

Well, as much as I wanted to know what things you've made up in your head, that doesn't actually answer any questions.

Think this is uncanny? You should check out The Amazing Bulk.

Not because it's uncanny but... well... just do it.

Sure, this movie looks incredibly bad but it is not at all the worst I have ever seen.

I've seen "Birdemic". I've seen "The Amazing Bulk". I've seen "The Room". I've seen "Paradise Motel".
This looks like a strong contender, but not the winner.

I'll wait for Rifftrax to get a hold of it before I watch the whole thing.

I don't think it's as tight as you do. CEOs like to talk to people. They like to meet people. They don't wait for background checks before meeting someone, they go to huge events and meet hundreds of people. I would expect him to have a private detail that does checks of the people he regularly engages with, but that's just an expectation based on basically nothing.

Also, I find no evidence that he has a security clearance.

I'm blocked from the full article, but it sounds like a letter from Nvidia to Commerce didn't smell right, so the case was handed to the DoJ. The headline makes it sound like Commerce dropped the case at Nvidia's behest, and then at some later point the DoJ picked it up.

So, which is it? Did Commerce drop the investigation, or did it get handed to the better-equipped department? Because it seems like they're trying to make it sound like things working the way they should is nefarious. I mean, if there was something fishy about that letter and the relationship, DoJ should be taking over.

That's probably because you're both wrong about it being such a partisan issue. Neither Trump nor Musk started it, and the leadership of the AI companies as a whole is not aligned with one party or the other. They'll cozy up to whoever is in charge, but a lot of the people you're thinking about have traditionally been closer to the Democrats. Hell, Musk was a Democrat until a few years ago.

Many of them like Trump's approach to regulating them, but how many actually put money into his campaign?

Where did you address that? I just see an arbitrary take-it-or-leave-it, which means nothing.

I'm just some guy. I don't create any apps.

Realistically, it would be between the company and the lawyers handling the class action suit.

Tricky to legislate that, but maybe it could be done.

There are living New Yorkers who not only know how that old Glen Miller song, but also how to translate it into a modern number?

16.6% of Dutch land is used for agriculture (link already provided but, https://worldmetrics.org/nethe...). Where are you getting your numbers?

Not a vast majority, 57%. Including 90% of Europe's potatoes. I hear they are also a major pork exporter. https://worldmetrics.org/nethe...

It turns out that some plants prefer to grow in particular places. People have tried ignoring that in the past, and the result is always famine. But fine, have it your way. Try and grow olives in Poland, grow your grapes in Sweeden, grow your apples in Sardinia, knock yourselves out.

And I suspect that famers know and care more about their local environment than any city dweller.

Wow! So, the BBC is well behind on 4k? What about Sky and ITV? (which concludes the list of UK TV broadcasters I know of)

Ludwig is advertised on the radio here. I found a list of 4k BBC shows (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/programme-availability/uhd-content/) just now, and I'm surprised to see it isn't on there. Well, not that surprised since you just told me it wasn't, but still.

I'm pumped to see some new Cunk on there, don't think I've seen "Cunk on Life" yet. Might have to spin up the ol' piracy machine and thank you for paying your license fee.

Well, again, I was kidding.

Vietnam escalated slowly until Johnson. Well, until Tonkin, when a few lies were told to get a buildup approved. Later, Nixon poured resources in to try and win the fight, but the PR war had already been lost at home. It has been theorized by many that Johnson could have won the war had he simply let the Air Force bomb the North instead of trees.