Random News Stories of Note

stripeypants · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:49 pm Post subject:

A KOMO news helicopter crashed into the Space Needle, killing two people:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/News-helicopter-crashes-burns-beside-Space-Needle-250790281.html?mobile=y
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Dogen · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 10607 Location: Bellingham, WA

Okay, the article says near the Space Needle, which is every bit as tragic but not quite as sensational as crashing into it. I can't imagine being in the KOMO building and watching your colleagues die in a crash on your doorstep. Sad

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stripeypants · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:44 am Post subject:

Ah, okay, I heard wrong and then misread the article. I'm not at my best today, so when I first heard, I thought it was a traffic helicopter that had gotten stuck or something.
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Yinello · Joined: 10 May 2012 Posts: 2642 Location: Behind you

Moor · Joined: 07 May 2013 Posts: 318

Darqcyde · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:44 pm Post subject:

mouse · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 17054 Location: under the bed

this isn't a news story, it's in the op-ed section, but it gives a lot of data on exactly how much anonymous money has been coming into the american political system since citizens united, along with the koch brother's rationale on why it's good that they be allowed to do anonymous donations (spoiler: they are afraid they might be oppressed by the majority).

seriously scary, but worth knowing.
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Yinello · Joined: 10 May 2012 Posts: 2642 Location: Behind you

ShadowCell · Joined: 03 Aug 2008 Posts: 6024 Location: California

yeah there is pretty much no chance World War III starts over this. nobody is willing to actually go to war with Russia over the chunk of Ukraine it just stole, so if Ukraine wants Crimea back, they're gonna have to do it themselves.

more interesting, though, is the possibility that the Kremlin's embrace of a separatist group in another country will stir up separatist sentiment at home. Russia is riven with ethnic groups that occupy some vital territory.

i'm sure Putin will deal with them with his usual conciliatory, consensus-building approach of massive state violence, but it's something worth keeping an eye on, i think.

Yinello · Joined: 10 May 2012 Posts: 2642 Location: Behind you

Putin wants the countries back that seperated itself from Russia. I'm sure some of them don't mind going back like Crimea but others went away for a reason and they definitely won't go back to Russia without a fight. Unlike Crimea, people aren't exactly happy about the Russians.
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mouse · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 17054 Location: under the bed

as i understand it, there are some pretty unhappy crimeans as well - like the tatars. and putin is making this whole big deal about how oppressed the ethnic russians are in crimea...i kinda suspect he's looking at some serious unrest in the future.
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Yinello · Joined: 10 May 2012 Posts: 2642 Location: Behind you

Putin is just bullshitting because he knows his propaganda will be effective if he keeps it up.
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ShadowCell · Joined: 03 Aug 2008 Posts: 6024 Location: California

oh, i doubt this is going to lead to, like, the imminent breakup of Russia or whatever (oh, but the irony if it did...!) but some of Russia's largest oil fields are located in territories that are occupied by separatist-minded ethnic/religious groups. Putin could well be setting himself up for some headaches within his own borders.

mouse · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 17054 Location: under the bed

i suspect merkel is right, and he has lost it. if he thinks he can get the soviet union back _now_....

of course the problem is, if he doesn't want to leave power, no one in russia is going to make him. so we may be stuck with his attempts to turn back the clock to the good old days for quite a while.
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Moor · Joined: 07 May 2013 Posts: 318

Twitter is blocked in Turkey.

Result: #TwitterIsBlockedInTurkey , and similar tags, trend on Twitter. In Turkish.
( source for me: https://twitter.com/quinnnorton/status/446781802037149696 )

Also, https://twitter.com/evacide/status/446823642614083585 .

Isn't it funny when totalitarian governments completely fail to understand how internets work?

(P.S. Shut up spellcheck internets is totally a word and is in fact the correct word for this situation!)