Mandy Lifeboats

7 minutes ago, bickster said:

Reports coming in that Russia has stopped the gas supply to Poland

This is a brilliant bit of manipulation by the Poles. Poland has a contract with Russia to supply its gas until 2023. It then switches to Norway.  If this is true, the Poles will spped the new contract through in Summer 2022 when their gas supply is at its lowest. 

There is a good book that can often be found as an audiobook on YouTube.  It's called the "Simple Sabotage Manual". I shall not add a link because its probably a copyright infringement and will have been deleted.  

It's written by the Americans  (who else) and is a guide for civilians wanting to u estate sabotage with minimal risks.  Its fascinating because its more focused with the impact of 1 million people doing small things than a few hundred people blowing up railways. 

There's lot of ways to make things wear out prematurely or fail catastrophicly a few months later. Its things like suggesting car mechanics add sand to car oil.  

With 1 million Ukrainians in Russia they can have a massive impact. 

6 minutes ago, GarethRDR said:

Maybe, but have you seen the build quality of the average Russian toaster?  To be frank, it's a marvel the entire country isn't ablaze.

Spot on @GarethRDR

Let's remember that Russia thinks its public will believe that its navy accidentally set fire to its own flagship.  

Personally,  I think the UK public would rather hear that we lost a ship to enemy missiles than Able Seaman Dave started a fire when he dropped an anti aircraft missile into a box of bullets. 

4 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Do you not think that a weapon's facility, a chemical plant producing explosives for Russia's army and the link node for Russia's oil exports to Europe burning is a bit too big of a coincidence?

I think the link node was 100% a deliberate attack. 

A chemical plant producing explosives would seem a very high accidental fire risk.  But maybe someone helped. Possible. 

A house in St Petersburgh?  No. 

A meat packing plant?  No.

A shopping centre? No.  

3 Police Stations? Probably deliberate but likely to be some criminal element seeking revenge. 

I wish this story about fires being intentional sabotage was true. But I think it's being exaggerated. 

The UK has 60,000 fires a year that cause loss of life or significant property damage.  We have a small country with very cautious fire safety laws which are enforced.  

I assume Russia fire safety laws are less rigorous and commonly ignored.  

Statistics prove that toilets cause house fires.  Fire statistics show there was a toilet present in 100% of homes that suffer fires. And 56% of statistics are false.  

7 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

 the singing ringing tree doesn't cut it any more.

The Singing Ringing Tree must have caused more psychological damage to children than any other children’s show.  It’s the stuff of nightmares. 

37 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

There is a bit of green opposite out house just along the main road.

It's usually filled with fast food rubbish, cans of alcohol and generally shite people lob into (near) the bush. 

The council have just placed down one of those circular flower box things...

 

How about cleaning up the rubbish for a start..

You misunderstand.  This is an example of your council being efficient and green.

In the old days a wasteful council employee paid a decent wage would have placed the flower box and cleared the rubbish in one visit.   
 

Today,  a highly efficient flower box installation company (working on behalf of the council) will install the flower box using the employees on a minimum wage.   

At some time in the far future a refuse collection company (working on behalf of the council) will remove the rubbish using employees on a minimum wage. 
 

Those 2 companies are doubling the vehicles required and number of visits required.  But look what they have saved on the pay bill.  
 

By introducing 2 visits, 2 sets of vehicles and 2 private companies the Council have introduced efficiency savings that have managed to keep your council tax bill increase to a measly 8%. 

 

Just now, Amsterdam_Neil_D said:

How ? 

The modern missiles will never be able to lock on to anything of any value and will most likely abort and self destruct.

It will on the other hand be the 1st time in the history of warfare where the target is worth considerably less than the missile hitting 

 I propose locking on the heat generated by shell-suit friction.  

I'd need a sit on mower to do that lawn.  

1 hour ago, Awol said:

Another Russian facility on fire, this time an airbase near Vladivostok - 4400 miles from Kyiv. Ukraine didn’t hit this place with a missile!

 

I wouldn't get too excited.  The area has been experiencing a lot of grass fires.  The video on YouTube is taken from a car which drives past several other areas of burnt grass whilst filming the plume of smoke.  Its clearly not a major fire.  

1 hour ago, Genie said:

NATO should nullify the nuclear threat held by Russia by blowing up all the locations they believe are storing nuclear weapons. Job done.

Edit: to be clear that was very tongue in cheek based on the assessment its “zero risk” of setting one off by accident.

I offer you 2 choices -:

1. Identify the location of every single warhead and launch a simultaneous and undetectable attack on every single one with a 100% success rate.  

Or

2. Buy SHA and get them promoted. 

I shall pull up Russia on Google Maps. 

7 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

I don't think there has even been a nuclear weapon detonated unintentionally.  But I shall look that up out of interest.  

 

 

There have been over 1000 intentional detonations and zero accidental ones. The consensus seems to be that getting a weapon to intentionally explode is such a challenge that the chances of accidentally replicating it are almost zero.  

I was amused to read about an incident in USA in 1980.  A workman dropped a spanner 40 feet onto a missile in a silo.  The impact punctured the fuel tank which subsequently caused the missile to launch itself with several warheads.  It landed a short distance away killing 1 poor sod it landed on. 

40 minutes ago, bickster said:

There's a slight issue though, there's no way of knowing if the Moskva was carrying nuclear warheads. Ukraine were of the opinion that it had two on board

 

The chances of a modern warhead  being detonated by a fire or explosion is very remote..  The worst case scenario is that it would break apart. But 3m of water is enough to stop radioactive contamination.  I don't think there has even been a nuclear weapon detonated unintentionally.  But I shall look that up out of interest.  

The biggest risk is that the radiation creates a new batch of superheroes.  But Chernobyl has millions of radioactive spiders..............

13 minutes ago, theunderstudy said:

With regards to the Moskva... what it is classified as? The Russians are stating it was an explosion of ammunition with no deaths right? So not a war grave...

The official line is 1 dead and 26 missing.  I presume the dead will be buried with honour. About a year from now they will also  be identified as the incompetents who caused the explosion and the case closed.  

The interesting time will be when 28 wives/mothers of the dead contact one another and realise the figures don't add up.  But that will be blamed on Putin after he suffers his heart attack that's due soon. 

17 minutes ago, bickster said:

I think that assumption is incorrect. I think last time I looked Sevastopol Harbour was only just outside Missile Range from Ukraine

Sinking the salvage ship would seem a very achievable goal.  Especially when NATO will tell Ukraine exactly where it is.  

I was listening to a podcast by an India Naval Engineer who was talking about the Moskva. He came up with some very interesting points. 

Apparently Russia didn't have much money when it was refurbished so they omitted a modern damage control system. Modern warships would have begun fighting the fire automatically within seconds of the missile hit. Moskva relied upon the crew rushing towards the fire and ignoring the dead and injured to fight the fire.  

He also said the most vital part of a modern damage control system is its ability to identify adjoining compartments to the damage and undertaking automatic fire suppression. 

UK and USA have learnt from their mistakes when their ships have been hit by missiles. He gave a small example that would make a huge difference.  US Navy boots have a sole which is heat resistant.  If you are trying to escape from a burning ship your Nikeski trainers aren't going to last.  Especially if the fire is on the deck below you and you don't realise how hot the floor is.  Russia hasn't suffered significant missile strikes to their ships and isn't geared up to recover from them.  

I assume  the Moskva wreckage is out of range for Ukraine's missiles? 

The increased use of drones in this conflict does make me wonder if they are all being manned by Ukrainians.  Is it feasible for these drones to be launched in Ukraine but controlled from Poland and Romania?  

I use Beneden Health as a much cheaper alternative to Bupa.  It pays something like £1800 towards the cost of diagnosing any problem you have.  Once you have a diagnosis the NHS treatment then follows. Its a great way to get quicker treatment.  

There are a lot of other benefits.  For example, they offer immediate phone consultation with a GP, physiotherapy and they undertake some operations which aren't available on the NHS. 

It's well worth a look.  

It's Porsche sticking their badge on a Dacia but selling it for the price of an Audi that I object to.  

I still have mixed feelings about the Omega Swatch.  It's a a terrible cheap watch being sold at a ridiculous price.  But it does look superficially like a Omega and I wouldn't have to worry about damaging it in everyday wear.  

I was incredibly disappointed the the sub-dials are at 2, 6 & 10 rather than 3,6 & 9.  It makes me think Swatch couldn't even be bothered to develop a new $10 quartz movement and just used something existing that was "near enough".  

It's been a great marketing tool for cheap publicity. It might even get people interested in proper Omega watches.  But as @Rissorightly says its devaluing the brand.  

6 hours ago, theunderstudy said:

On today's guess the obscure map (Aviation related)

Chicken or beef? 

28 minutes ago, theunderstudy said:

A week late on this but the B-52 bomber celebrated 70 years of flight last Friday. Quite an incredible aeroplane. I think its come up in this thread a few times but oh well. Since entering the aviation world I've paid far more attention to this kind of thing.

If anyone goes to Orlando I would recommend visiting the B52 Park at the Airport.  Its hidden from plain site and not many people realise its there.  There is a retired B52. It's amazing to see close up.  

9 hours ago, maqroll said:

Who is "we", Mr. Lifeboats, I'm not familiar with your bio, forgive me.

I use “we” meaning NATO.  But as the UK is one of the major nuclear powers in NATO, I also use it to mean the UK government.