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Just got back from SoCal and Baja California, the cityscapes in baja aren't very pretty but the natural beauty is jaw-dropping
 
Blame it on the hipsters:

Gentrification Ruined SimCity



I moved to SimCity back in 1993. Back then it was a raw place. There were barely any police departments and you never wanted to get home after midnight. But even though the neighborhood was dangerous and the property values were perpetually low due to the proximity to a nuclear power plant, it was bursting with culture. SimCity was for the working people and the artists.

But then the yuppies came. All of a sudden, SimCity was a ?cool? place to live. People thought the lack of police departments and the inadequate funding for roads were novel. So in the yuppies came, and they started building zoos, parks, and stadiums. They even built a statue of the mayor. What mindless slaves! So of course property values began to rise so that only the rich could live there. The city rezoned the surrounding dense industrial areas to dense residential and up went the condo highrises. Once they built a fusion power plant on the outskirts of town, the nuclear plant came down and the property values went even higher.

And so SimCity is over. The artists are out and the yuppies are in. I look around this place and I don?t even recognize it. Sure, there used to be fires, riots, and occasional UFO attacks here, but that was all part of the life. Now it?s bland and pathetic. I know I?ve gotta get out of here, move to another place that feels real. But I know anywhere I go, the yuppies will be right behind with their Urban Renewal Kits and their SimCopters, ready to ruin the next town and smother it in SimTowers.

http://wondertonic.tumblr.com/post/359035921/gentrification-ruined-simcity
Click to expand...
 
There are about a million or so threads here that I could post this in so rather than spamming the forum with it I'll just post it here:

2010-04-20-615sad.gif


And yes, I'm just as guilty of this as anyone. Beton Brut, Itchy and Briv are excused.
 
statler said:
Beton Brut, Itchy and Briv are excused.
Click to expand...

Thanks Statler...

My lovely assistant gave me a ration of shit about my "cowl of disenfranchisement" last Friday night. It was mostly a career-related conversation, but it speaks volumes about my worldview.

Maybe I should drink more...
 
^^There are probably others on the board that deserve exemption, but you three are the only ones I know of (or remember) having done stuff IRL.

Well... Ned I guess...
 
A friend snapped this while in SF. Apparently it's a bus for taking illegal immigrants back to Mexico.

666.png
 
So I was reading an old Life magazine from 1939 and came across this story. Here are two photos of a painting done in the 1700's by a Flemish artist. First image is how it appeared until 1939. Second is how it appeared after they realized the painting had been partially retouched - the original artist's painting. I find this hilarious.

old_king_drinks.png


king_drinks.jpg
 
Wait, the color is the original painting, or the black and white is the original? If it's the color, that's hilarious!
 
Sorry, I wrote too quickly. No, the original was in color, too, it's just that Life magazine had it in black and white.

The funny part is in the lower right-hand corner.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqwMzQiXlK0&feature=player_embedded

Russian arms firms have no problem designing and directly marketing weapon systems, to rogue states and terrorists, which blatantly violate the widely accepted requirement for uniformed combatants.

http://gizmodo.com/5525402/delightful-new-russian-missiles-can-be-hidden-in-shipping-containers


Oh...great. A Russian company is now marketing a new cruise missile system that can be hidden in a shipping container, turning any merchant ship into a warship able to take out an aircraft carrier. Cool? So who exactly would be in the market for the Club-K system? No bigs, just countries like Iran and Venezuela. And those countries could go ahead and pass the weapons along to even less savory characters.
The system still appears to be in the concept phase, with Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat gauging interest in the $20 million system before manufacturing the weapons.
But then again, there's always the chance that the above video is really a viral ad for the next Command & Conquer: Red Alert game. Because that's sure what it looks like. [Reuters]"

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/26/world/international-us-russia-weapon.html?_r=3

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian company is marketing a devastating new cruise missile system which can be hidden inside a shipping container, giving any merchant vessel the capability to wipe out an aircraft carrier.
Potential customers for the formidable Club-K system include Kremlin allies Iran and Venezuela, say defense experts. They worry that countries could pass on the satellite-guided missiles, which are very hard to detect, to terrorist groups.
"At a stroke, the Club-K gives a long-range precision strike capability to ordinary vehicles that can be moved to almost any place on earth without attracting attention," said Robert Hewson of Jane's Defense Weekly, who first disclosed its existence.
A promotional video for the Club-K on the website of Moscow-based makers Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat shows an imaginary tropical country facing a land, sea and air attack from a hostile neighbor.
It fights back by loading three shipping containers concealing Club-Ks onto a truck, a train and a ship, disperses them, and then launches a devastating strike on its enemy, destroying its warships, tanks and airfields.
"The idea that you can hide a missile system in a box and drive it around without anyone knowing is pretty new," said Hewson, who is editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons.
"Nobody's ever done that before."
Hewson estimated the cost of the Club-K system, which packs four ground or sea-launched cruise missiles into a standard 40-foot shipping container, at $10-20 million.
"Unless sales are very tightly controlled, there is a danger that it could end up in the wrong hands," he said.
The promotional video showed how an ordinary shipping container with the Club-K inside could be hidden among other containers on a train or a ship. When required, the roof lifts off and the four missiles stand upright ready to fire.
An official reached by telephone at makers Kontsern Morinformsistema-Agat declined to answer questions about the Club-K.
He said the firm had no spokesman and he needed time to study written questions before passing a request to the firm's management.
Russia is one of the world's top arms exporters, selling a record $8.5 billion of weapons last year to countries ranging from Syria and Venezuela to Algeria and China. Its order book is estimated to top $40 billion.
Mikhail Barabanov, a defense expert at Russia's Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), said that as far as he understood, the Club-K was still at the concept stage.
"Potential clients include anyone who likes the idea," he said. "It is known that the United Arab Emirates has shown interest in buying the Club."
Barabanov said the Club-K used proven missiles from Novator, an established Russian maker of weaponry including anti-submarine, surface-to-air and submarine-launched missiles.
One of the missiles on offer is a special anti-ship variant with a second stage which splits off after launch and accelerates to supersonic speeds of up to Mach 3.
"It's a carrier-killer," said Hewson of Jane's. "If you are hit by one or two of them, the kinetic impact is vast...it's horrendous."
 
I think I used to have a M.A.S.K. toy that did the same thing.
 
Not a surprise, this. But not new either. A Chicom Silkworm is pretty cheap.

Still, a problem. Our warships might as well have sprung from the mind of Jackie Fisher. They are largely unarmoured and count on "forward defense" (CAP, sam, gatling) rather than good old fashioned steel. The Nimitz couldn't take 1/10th what an old fashioned Essex Class carrier could handle. Think HMS Hood, or perhaps more appropos, HMS Sheffield vs. Argentinian Exocet.
 
I hope Boston/Mass follows San Francisco and boycotts Arizona. Who should I send angry letters to?
 
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