Aaand, In Other News...

[Raid]

The Line is probably the most ridiculous of the projects, but it's only one of a number of them in the Neom region. Apparently what dictators in the middle east like to do is secure their legacy, to make their mark on the world, so people pitch completely unrealistic ideas to them without any numbers or research or feasibility studies, and they pick the shiniest one. I mean it's bad enough trying to build a city in a desert, but trying to do it with such restrictive logistics capability is mind-bogglingly stupid. What happens if a train gets stuck on one of the rail lines? There are only two of them, and they only travel one way each. You can't route anything around a stoppage. What happens if the water main is damaged and needs repair; does everyone downstream of that issue then have water shortages? One road and one rail line aren't going to be enough to ship water to 170km worth of city.

This is an overview of the project which is worth it for a laugh.

[eny]

The neverending odyssey to pretend ego isn't futile...mankind will end because of such vanity.

[Wrathbone]

This is an overview of the project which is worth it for a laugh.

Having just watched it, the Line is even dumber than I imagined it would be. My favourite potential disaster that the video touches on is if there's structural damage at one end that causes a domino effect that wrecks the entire city. Even the less catastrophic aspects don't stand up to basic scrutiny, such as the fact that the entire 170km length has a mirrored surface. It's in a desert for crying out loud, it's going to be filthy within hours! They're going to have to employ an army of window cleaners to keep it shiny for when a Saudi Prince turns up for an instagram shot next to it. And at 500m tall, the entire 170km is going to be like cleaning a skyscraper top to bottom. On both sides.

[Animalmother]

Local "terrorists" now also have access to some near cutting edge military shit and a single missile hit or bomb blast into any part of the wall fucks the entire city. It would need a literal army to protect it.

It's like something from Judge Dredd or Warhammer 40K.

[Sly Boots]

This is another great watch:



The most sarcastic half-hour I've seen since the Father Ted episode with the sarcastic priest. The section where he talks about the 'megaloop' having to repeatedly accelerate to mach 3 before coming to a complete stop 400 times along the length of the city, allowing 2 seconds for passengers to get on and off at each stop, had me in stitches. He allows that it sounds "a bit uncomfortable"

[Animalmother]

Apparently the Sun has just let rip a real nasty one and Earth in in the path...


Could be some beautiful Northern Lights type displays tonight if it's not cloudy.

[Raid]

And if it is cloudy, maybe a transformer near you will explode and you'll have your spectacle there instead.

If you enjoy educating yourself via the medium of colourful cartoon birds; Kurzgesagt did a video on these a few years back.

[Snowy]

Cheers Chris, nice explanation of something I had zero understanding of. Always good to learn things!

[Raid]

Kurzgesagt is my favourite Youtube channel; they're excellent at breaking down fairly complicated scientific topics to at least give you a layman's view. They also occasionally answer important questions, such as what would happen if we fired all of Earth's nuclear ordnance at the moon. They have a fantastic composer too, their backing tracks frequently pop up in my Spotify recommendations.

[Wrathbone]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-m ... t-69035051

This is really going to calm things down in the region.

The area the helicopter was flying in was very foggy and so in all likelihood it was a genuine accident, but given the timing and the fact that Mossad do whatever they want with impunity, all eyes are presumably fixed on them.

[Animalmother]

Yeah it would be nice if the world just calmed the fuck down for a little bit.

[Raid]

Yeah it would be nice if the world just calmed the fuck down for a little bit.

It would, but of all the things I'd suggest to create that situation, the death of the Iranian president wouldn't be high on my list.

[Animalmother]

Seeing as it's the usual suspects giving their condolences I dare say he was a nasty little Edwin. It's very likely things might get worse for a while but his loss will ultimately be good for Iran.

On the lighter side, we'll probably get more solar flares over the next few days. I didn't see a single bit of the last one despite my best efforts

[Animalmother]

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/23/2416 ... go-chatgpt
I'm sure some us will have noticed this today. I'm surprised at Duckduckgo being affected, the apparently rely on Bing but aren't owned my Microsoft.