"It can't happen here."
Europe
1914 - 1945

No, I'm all in favor of Morons--

However, I'm not in favor of the amazing people in SAR putting their lives on the line to recover the smears lefts on rocks that used to be these people. Living in WA, we have a lot of "really wants to kill you" wilderness here, including North Cascades Nat'l Park and Olympic Nat'l Park. Every single year, someone's predated body needs to be pulled out of the middle of one of these places by either a helo crew or the poor bastards who have to hike a bazillion miles to pack out what's left of Chuckles.

The number of SAR people who've died here is sobering. Every single one of them could have just walked away, but they went into danger's way to save people too stupid to save themselves. Sometimes their reward is to be spit on, like the ranger at Yellowstone who was berated by the father of a kid who dived into a hot spring after his dog (by "kid", I mean adult kid, not Timmy). The father wanted his kid's body recovered, no matter what. The ranger had to explain that the kid completely dissolved about five minutes after he fell in. The father then refused to speak to the ranger any further.

This shit doesn't happen in a vacuum. Someone's going to have to look at these human bird droppings and see that shit in their sleep for the rest of their lives.

Therein lies the problem: most people HUGELY over-estimate their 'Acceptable risk level'.

- "This crumbling cliff edge above a 1,000 foot gorge is the PERFECT place for a selfie!" (one of the saddest deaths in WA was when one of the best skiers in the state decided to look over the edge of a cornice. It gave way and she fell almost a thousand feet to her death.)

- "100f and 0% humidity? What a perfect time to go for a 10 mile, uphill hike with only a can of Coke and some salty beef jerky!"

- "10 essentials? Beer, pot, lighter, cellphone, hat, earbuds, that little map they give you at the visitor center, more beer and is that 10?"

- "I can read a map just fine! This off-trail hike through a rugged part of the park will be breeze!"

- "I can get signal anywhere in this enormous national forest!"

- "Aww! What a cute little baby bear!"

- "Can we get an Uber at the bottom of this ravine?"

- "Let's go swimming! This raging river of snow melt will be the perfect place to cool off!"

etc etc etc

"Lock the doors."

-- Flight Director LeRoy Cain

Yeah, I was supposed to be on one to Lyon about a week before everything shut down, thus fucking me out of the opportunity I worked a year for. Don't worry, I am leaving. Not where I wanted to originally -- looks like it's either Chile or Uruguay now, according to who likes my money more -- but I am leaving.

Ever heard that "ancient Chinese curse" thing, "May you live in interesting times"? It's not Chinese or ancient, but there are two others associated with it:
1. "May you come to the attention of powerful men."
2. "May all your wishes be granted."

Beware the second, especially in your case.

Reasons I want the fuck out of this country #163: THIS.

Jesus Christ, if anyone else but you said this...

"That's nice, now where's the mice you promised me?"

5: How did you work the camera while driving? I didn't. My dad was driving while I was filming from the back seat.

6: Where's there turn signal?

Ah, Wilits, home of the amazing Protopipe and pretty much everything you want to smoke in it.

From a YouTube comment:

Frame: Bcrow Rlight v2 3030 trueX
Motor: Rcinpower GTS V3 2080kv
Battery: Dogcom 1350mah 150c 6s
Props: HQprop R35
Esc: Flycolor Xcross60A
Antenna: Rush tiny tank + cherry antenna
Cam: Runcam nano racer 3 (secret lens)
Receiver: ImmersionRC Ghost Zepto
Goggles: ImmersionRC Rapidfire (Orqa 16:9 mod)


From my comment:

I swear to Christ if you show up in my neighborhood with one of those fucking things, I'm buying a MANPAD.

The FAA is up there with the TSA, DHS and the NSA as far as TLAs you should NEVER piss-off.

I got pulled over by DHS while I was driving through North Cascades National Park a few years ago. They weren't even marked trucks. One pulled ahead of me, the second one was right on my rear bumper and the "PULL OVER NOW!" was like the voice of God.

I was going camping and they made me pull every fucking thing out of my Subie. Then they went through it all. They confiscated my two pre-rolls and my pipe ("you're on Federal land"), then they called "backup". I sat on the side of the road at Newhalem for about two hours while they dug through all my stuff like a half-dozen times and kept asking me the same stupid-ass questions ("why are you here", "do you know anyone in this area?", "have you ever been arrested for a crime in the US or abroad?") over and over. People where driving by and looking at me and my wife like we were the whitest ISIS fighters ever.

They gave me the ol' "You're free to go" and drove off.

Fuckers took my dope!!

Whoa, whoa, whoa -- hold the fuck up!

What exactly is this video about?

I'm still getting over Covid right now, but remind me to tell you about the time the DEA gave me and my friends free weed. A LOT of free weed.

If you watch this and feel anything but complete terror, you're missing the point. An AI controlled drone swarm is a military nightmare: you can blind radar; shut down comms; interrupt C3 at a crucial moment.

The things that can be done with a thousand cheap drones and some basic AI can render billion-dollar military systems moot in the event of real combat. The US Navy is already shitting themselves over this (there's already been a few incidents, most recently off the coast of San Diego), and the USAF isn't far behind. Serious drones incidents -- from unknown attackers -- have happened in the US. This including an attempted attack on a power station and a bizarre cat-and-mouse game between USBP/HLS and an unidentified "super drone" over Arizona on more than one occasion.

Did you notice what they were displaying? This wasn't meant to be oo-aah cute, this was China telling the US military they fuck around at their own risk. The last time someone sent a message this clearly, Billy Mitchell was flying a biplane over a captured German destroyer.

"Far less chance for severe mishaps, too" -- I know you meant something totally different, but in the case of what I'm talking about, the exact opposite holds true.