I love this guy’s channel. Two of my other favorite things he’s done are: Uppest Case / Lowest Case, and that time he Reverse Emulated a NES.

… Ok, fair. 11,000 years was the wrong cut-off date. 12 - 13,000 years would have illustrated my point better.

You are entirely correct that the agreement itself did not obligate the US to take any action in the case of aggression against Ukraine unless it included the use of nuclear weapons. However, the main point of the agreement was that the US, the UK, and Russia all made a commitment to Ukraine to respect its independence, sovereignty, and territorial borders. A lot of diplomatic negotiations had to occur behind the scenes to make that happen. For Russia to sign this treaty, then 20 years later violate it without the other signatories even so much as lifting a finger in protest is pretty unconscionable.

But you are right. I worded my initial post poorly by implying that the US had obligations to defend Ukraine. In the legal sense, they did not. I will argue, however, that in a moral sense, they very much did.

I mean, better late than never. Still, I would have loved to see us doing what we’re currently doing back in 2014. If we’d done that, Russia would probably not have invaded a second time.

Edit: Alternatively, we could have not induced Ukraine to destroy its nuclear stockpile, in which case Russia would never have invaded them in the first place. Of course, I’m torn on this one, as more nuclear weapons = more chance for the total annhiliation of all humanity. So, I’d prefer they remove their nukes, and we defend them as promised.

Not even anywhere near that long. There have been humans for probably more than 200,000 years. Probably more. It gets confusing when you go back that far. But our written history only accounts for maybe 10,000 of those years. So 5% of total human history, if we take the minimum estimate of what it takes for us to be human. We have no evidence to support the fact that human advancement even lasts as long as written history. I mean, shit… the Romans had central heating and cement, and then they died out and we forgot how to do those things for 1,000 years. Our knowledge, and the acquisition of same is not exactly linear. Lots of fits and starts over the course of the various human civilizations that have occurred.

What happened 11,000 years ago? I mean, we’ve got some pottery fragments. Other than that, ???

Depends on your definition of “long-term”. The biggest accomplishments of Man have been acknowledged for maybe 10,000 years at the very extreme limits. 10,000 years is not even a drop in the bucket of geological or celestial time. So it very much depends on your perspective.

'Cause I’m drunk on a Thursday (Friday very early in the morning), and I’ve lost control of my life.

What’s hilarious about this is that the Tankies are kind of right, that Russia invading Ukraine is at least partially the US’ fault. Of course, this is more of a “A broken clock is right twice per day” kind of thing. The US promised Ukraine that it would defend them from Russian aggression in order to get them to sign the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in 1994, which got them to destroy their nuclear stockpile. Until that point, Ukraine actually had the world’s 3rd largest stockpile of nuclear weapons due to their Soviet heritage. Then, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, and the US did nothing. So Russia felt confident in invading once again in February of 2022. If the US had stuck to their word in the Budapest Memorandum, Russia would not have attempted to invade them again. But, alas, the US was too concerned with Russia’s nuclear stockpile to do anything other than send Ukraine MREs back in 2014. So, here we are.

Shit - I love “Commandos”. Such a rad game.

I’d watch that tape.

See - shit like this is why I don’t really get my hopes up for the UAP hearings. Trump randomly throws out nuclear secrets just to impress people, because he’s a dumb piece of shit. Does anybody really think that idiot could keep his trap shut about proof of alien life?

MLA format would be something like this:

Maneuver, The Picard. The Delusion. Picard, 2023.

Then, in your paper, to reference it, just write “(Maneuver 2023)”.

Definitely makes sense. They know they can’t count on the Kerch bridge being there. Still, with the heavy fortifications they’ve got around Tokmak, it feels premature to abandon it. I welcome it, of course, but it really feels like a lynch pin.

That’s… one hell of a goodwill gesture. Calling Tokmak “strategically important” is kind of burying the lede. All of the rail transport from Russia to Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Crimea go through Tokmak. Gerasimov’s “goodwill gesture” would mean that Russia would be unable to effectively supply the vast majority if its current holdings in Ukraine. They’d have to rely on road transportation (which is all within range of HIMARs), sea transportation (which is vulnerable to drones), or air transportation (which in addition to being totally insufficient, would also be in range of a lot of AA systems). Basically, he’s saying that the war is over.

… Or you could just read a history book that wasn’t written by a Mao fanboi.

First time on the internet?

It’s kind of shocking to see a politician standing by their principles, and stepping away from a position of power when their priciples clash with the stance of the organization they were a part of. Good for him.

I love this book! I first read it, I don’t know, maybe 20 years ago, back when Pargrin (he went by David Wong then) posted one chapter of it at a time on his website. A few years after he got it published, Don Coscarelli (director; does mostly indie movies including the “Phantasm” series) read the book, flipped out about it, and decided to buy the rights to the story and make it into a movie. It’s a pretty great adaptation, too! I’d rate it as mostly faithful to the source material. It’s got Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, and Doug Jones in it.

Anyway, if you like JDATE, you should check out Coscarelli’s movie of the same name. And also read the rest of the books in the series (book 4 was published about a year ago). And if you like the movie, you should also check out another Coscarelli classic, “Bubba Ho-Tep”, starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis.

Hey - I read through some of your post history to get the back story. I know we’re strangers, but I just wanted to say that I’m proud of you, and I’m happy that you’re seeing positive progress on your journey, even if it’s just a “simple win”. It’s rough not being able to count on your parents to have your back. I hope you have someone else in your life to at least partially fill that hole, but if not… just keep posting, and keep going. Strangers on the internet being proud of you and happy for you is a poor substitute for parental affection, but hopefully it’s at least something. You got this. <3