SSTF

@ setsneedtofeed @lemmy.world

Posts

776
Comments

1024
Joined

3 yr. ago

...

Moderating

Forgotten Weapons lemmy.world

Military lemmy.world

Art Market lemmy.world

3w ago

Picked up a copy of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for XB360
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SSTF @lemmy.world 3w ago
I hesitated on where exactly to post this, but it seems more suited here than Patient Gamers which is mostly about getting relatively modern games that have hit bottom prices.

3w ago

Picked up a copy of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for XB360

The 3rd person mode was a big difference. The levels are also different, while following the same general plot and premise.

When it comes to Tom Clancy games, GRAW is only second to Splinter Cell Double Agent when it comes to how wildly different releases of the "same" game are on different platforms.

3w ago

Soundtrack for these dark times?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 3w ago

I dunno, my daily mix is my daily mix.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

in the plans should already be a plan

"Should" is the worst word in the English language.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

When a storm comes through and there are widespread disruptions, it is common to send cars along routes to assess the condition of each pole and its equipment. Damaged equipment or lines is easily visible. In a fairly short amount of time the damage can all be assessed and waiting line crews can get to work quickly fixing equipment.

With underground infrastructure, it takes longer to pinpoint exactly what's and fix it.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

People seriously underestimate how disruptive underground work is. Imagine instead of a neighborhood with lawns a dense urban area full of concrete, asphalt, and plumbing and how long it would take to retrofit overhead power infrastructure to underground. People would be furious.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

but they all seem to be countered with “but that’s expensive”

And time consuming and more difficult to assess, maintain, modify, and install. While increasing the underground footprint which makes it more difficult for other underground utilities and construction.

Well there are many compelling reasons

And when the reasons are good enough the lines go underground. Otherwise yes the cheap and easy way is better as the baseline, because paying ~10x more and taking much longer to install a system that is harder to work with for no good reason is stupid.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

It can be done, but the people paying for it need a compelling reason. Just saying "It's kind of primitive ya know." isn't enough.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

In a dense urban environment you are wanting retrofitted lines run through terrain already full of concrete, water lines, and other urban features. That would take a lot of coordination in design and still likely miss things (which means more time and money on redesigns). It also means a long installation time which means extended disruption to the area.

These sorts of underground lines are easier to run in totally fresh new construction, but then again, it runs into servicing issues and extra expense.

is expensive to fix after a storm

Assessing and fixing underground lines is much harder, more expensive, and disruptive.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

Maintenance, modification, assessment, and initial installation are all more difficult. And yes that means more expensive, and yes the cost difference is significant. It is more resource and personnel intense to work underground lines than overhead.

When it comes to damage from weather, while underground lines can be slightly more resilient they are much, much more of a pain to assess and and fix. A good line crew can put up a new pole in about an hour. It takes a lot longer to run underground digging equipment.

In some places underground lines are run, of course, because for various reasons the associated downsides are deemed worth it. However when you're looking at a whole infrastructure, you want easy to service, fast to install, and cost efficient.

4w ago

How come residential power lines aren't buried underground still?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

Which is a solution for a limited area where the extra cost and longer install time might be deemed worthwhile, but when you want to run miles upon miles of lines then it is less feasible.

4w ago

How do bombs work? Like the WW2 ocean mines can i take baseball bat and beat in between the triggers and nothing happen? If I was in the military and a grenade get tossed can i cover it up with my

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

Military or professionally used explosives generally have an insensitive main explosive charge. It can be various types of explosive compound, but the theme is that the main charge is not set off by kinetic shock or heat alone.

To set off most types of these explosives requires a detonator. This can take the form of a blasting cap or something inside of a fuze that acts similarly. These are filled with small amounts of more sensitive explosive materials. When the detonator explodes it creates simultaneous heat and shock that when it is contact with a main charge causes the main charge to explode. Detonators are detonated either electrically, through an electric match type spark; or non-electrically which can be from sources like a percussion cap, shocktube, burning time fuse, or detonation cord.

For particularly insensitive main charges there is sometimes an intermediate charge made of a more sensitive than main HE surrounding the detonator to ensure the main charge goes off. This is something that has also seen in insurgent IEDs, where the builders stretch out their supply of military main explosives by using them as intermediate charges for the homemade main charge.

The dangers of something like a grenade primarily come from the fragmentation that is propelled from the force of the explosion. The raw explosive pressure is dangerous at a very close distance, but the fragmentation is what is going to spread out and put holes in people. I wouldn't trust any helmet to fully stop the pressure and fragmentation of any given HE grenade. I'm sure you could theorycraft up a grenade and helmet combination to make this work, but in practical application it's not something you plan to do and live.

As for "picking up or kicking a pipebomb" homemade explosive devices aren't built following a uniform safety manual. You have no idea what it's filled with or how it was made. Some lunatic/moron might have filled their pipebomb with a mercury fulminate or TATP main charge that goes off at a wrong touch. Or maybe it's filled with an aluminum-ammonium nitrite mix with a stripped lightbulb stuck in as the blasting cap and there's almost no chance it goes off. Or it's a more conventional black powder main charge with an obvious external timer but when you pick it up the hidden tilt switch inside completes the circuit to the detonator.

Which is all to say, no don't just pick up and toss pipe bombs that you find on the street because there are so many variables to learn that no amount of "internet research" is going to make it a good idea.

4w ago

Mandola effect

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

"Truly this is a First Contact."

4w ago

Mandola effect

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

4w ago

Mandola effect

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

I'll have my revenge - and Deathstalker Too.

4w ago

Mandola effect

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

For you.

4w ago

I recently finished playing The Outer Worlds 2 and it was pretty good. The big problem I have with both games is that the game mechanics feel a little shallow. Despite that I'm hoping there will be

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

That's more or less how I feel about the first game. I really liked the setting and characters, but found the gameplay underwhelming. Combat was especially boring, which made me go towards stealth or dialog resolutions just to skip it, except the game had a long chunk where fighting the local wildlife was the only option.

4w ago

Various spaceship ideas

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

Thanks. This is an old picture and I've refined since then, but sometimes it is nice to just draw whatever.

4w ago

Whats the hardest days work you've had?

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SSTF @lemmy.world 4w ago

As a consultant...

Watching overpaid engineers not understand basic concepts or struggle to do things like check voltage with a multimeter.

Watching horribly sloppy safety procedures.

Interacting with safety auditors who don't know how their own equipment works and insist on useless safety measures or fail to insist on proper ones.

Being blamed for a problem outside my control even after identifying exactly where the problem is coming from and who they need to call to fix it. (Then having to repeatedly explain this to increasingly higher levels of management who are increasingly detached from the details.)

4w ago

[OC] Goodsprings, Nevada.

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