I work with a K9 search and rescue team now and then. The team is very good at going deep into the woods looking for missing and/or dead people on scent trails that are sometimes over 24h old.

One of the ladies used a black tactical rig full of pouches. But instead of gun stuff it held gps devices, radios, dog treats, toys, water, collapsible bowls and a dozen other things for her and her dog.

So we geeked out for like five minutes over how useful it was. It’s a Condor Ronin Rig if anyone is curious

I’m sorry for your loss

Doritos are triangles so sure

The heads up display isn’t something you see in front of you like most planes. The helmets are the heads up display, like augmented reality.

There are cameras all over the plane to help you see through the aircraft (see ground targets through the floor, nearby aircraft through your wing). Think of the resolution and bitrate needed to make it useful!

Just like how an apache gunner can simply look at a target to aim the gun at them you can do the same thing. And if you can’t hit it it’s still marked for every allied plane in the airspace to see. If you are out of missiles but you are tracking an enemy plane miles ahead, you can send the data to an F-15 miles behind you and let their missiles lock and fire from farther than they can engage alone.

With that in mind the radar is awesome letting it see threats from greater distances than the opposition, with the stealth capabilities good enough to keep them from easily doing the same.

I’m sure there are other surprises too, but the military obviously wants to keep those a secret

It would suck if poison ivy tea tasted really good

I genuinely think the best practical use of AI, especially language models is malicious manipulation. Propaganda/advertising bots. There’s a joke that reddit is mostly bots. I know there’s some countermeasures to sniff them out but think about it.

I’ll keep reddit as the example because I know it best. Comments are simple puns, one liner jokes, or flawed/edgy opinions. But people also go to reddit for advice/recommendations that you can’t really get elsewhere.

Using an LLM AI I could in theory make tons of convincing recommendations. I get payed by a corporation or state entity to convince lurkers to choose brand A over brand B, to support or disown a political stance or to make it seem like tons of people support it when really few do.

And if it’s factually incorrect so what? It was just some kind stranger™ on the internet

All I know is that I use socials to get away from political bullshit

Sometimes it feels like we’re running in rhombicosidodecahedrons

I think Kamala has much better odds than Biden did this time around. The assassination attempt on Trump was crazy and solidified his supporters.

I think it’s a closer race than either side thinks

So the solar panel I have doens’t have an on board battery, just straight to usb. It makes it lighter and less bulky so I don’t mind.

I personally think most phones would be okay but I’ve read in a few places that some devices don’t play nice with the variations in electricity from the solar panel.

So the battery brick is the middleman.

I got a folding solar panel that I use to charge a big power brick and then use that to charge devices. The goal is to use the solar panel on long camping trips and in case of power outages.

The brick alone will keep my phone topped off for over a week

I beats a parking lot that’s for sure. Micro climate would improve. It could bring more shade, better water retention and more types of bugs and wildlife than the places around you.

As for big picture, not so much but every bit counts. Like light pollution for example. If property owners turned off or shielded one outdoor light the night sky would be a lot cooler to a lot more people. It’s a collective effort and it needs to start somewhere

Check out binaural microphone headphones

This is a cool youtube channel to show the effect https://youtu.be/j18RKpKvL1Q?feature=shared

Keep crying and find out. Petty suburban problems.

Yes for those that don’t know in the US any rifle with a barrel length less than 16 inches needs to have a buch of extra paperwork and a tax stamp to the ATF to register it as a “short barreled rifle” or it is a weapons related felony. The reason behind it is the government was afraid of gangs using easily concealed weapons.

The most common rifle of the US military, the M4, used a 14.5 inch barrel. Even if everything else was legal for the average citizen to own by making it semi auto only, that barrel makes it a short barreled rifle by law. But add an extra 1.5 inches and it’s perfectly fine in the eyes of the law.

The way to avoid the pain of excessive paperwork and tax stamp is to replace the stock with a “pistol brace” and make it a “pistol”. You know, the category of gun used most by criminals like gang members because it’s easy to conceal.

I guess knives aren’t socially seen as defensive arms even if legally they are

It also goes to show how laws made during the moral panic don’t go away even decades after that panic fades.

This is often in mind when responsible gun owners are critical of more gun laws. The govt won’t go “that was silly of us here’s your bit of freedom back” even if a law objectively had zero positive effect

I wouldn’t mind if they did honestly

So I went through fire academy in a trade school. We had a small class of 12 and months of mutual challenges. Learning how to get gear on, buddy checks, doing search and rescue searches crawling around blindfolded. Then doing live fire training in an old abanodoned house the academy bought for us, cutting open cars etc. It was the closest “Band of Brothers” feeling I’ve ever had with a group.

In the military it’s similar but not as intense imo. Still being with the same group with the same goal forms bonds and friendships. After going to your usit we mostly do the same thing as everyone else. Clock in and clock out trying to get shit done asap to maximize free time, but we still have spent deployments and tdys together. We give a shit about the big picture when it counts (large operations, helping Ukraine etc) but on the daily we mostly just try to help each other get through the day but it’s not totally friends centered. Bottom line is still that we’re all here to do a job, but that doesn’t mean you have to be socially isolated.

It’s kind of amazing to see someone with that much money give it away at