I have often wondered if a credible threat of intervention would do the trick in Ukraine, too, but we will probably never know. No balls in the West for it.

History shows such papers are not worth anything. The Soviet Union and Finland had a mutual non-aggression treaty, which the S.U. unilaterally announced terminated on the 28. November 1939, and then attacked Finland on 30. November.

Niinkin voi sanoa. Toisaalta myös Stalinin Neuvostoliitossa talous osin pyöri vangeilla. Tunnetusti kanavia kaivettiin ja malmia louhittiin vankityövoimalla. Jopa uutta teknologiaa kehitetiin, "Ensimmäinen piiri" kertoo erikoisvankilasta jossa kehitettiin vakoilu- ja salaustekniikkaa Stalinille.

It's been a while since I read them as a kid, but wasn't there one Mars book where the action was actually set on Phobos or Deimos? (forget which). Some funky natural law was invoked to ensure our heroes shrank appropriately for the smaller celestial body.

I wonder how long the eclipse lasts. Seconds?

If I saw that sight in real life, my first reaction would be I'm being robbed at gunpoint by a masked criminal.

There is no enforcement mechanism when the organizations supposed to do the enforcing are compromised. Looking at this from the outside, it is frightening how quickly the rule of law has collapsed in the U.S. (And wondering if the safeguards in my country would work any better).

Thanks. Fascinating! I don't have recollections about this, not being into video games at that time (also never had a C64 or Spectrum). I did know about the Harlin film being banned, that felt only natural then. Everyone knew you must not upset the Soviets.

Why would they need huge floating cranes for constructing ships? Aren't they built in dry docks, then launched?

You can see this in real life in the spelling of names in those West African countries that were French colonies. Like Ouagadougou. A Finnish colonial adminstration from an alternate timeline would have spelled it something like Vagadugu.

That's also my recollection from long ago conscription days, where tear gas was used to simulate a gas attack. You really have to fit the mask snuggly, and if it were actually poison gas, I suspect many would be dead, gas mask or no.

I guess that happened because the airspace violations made the Soviets eager to sell the MIGs to us.

Similar to some Finnish and Baltic airports having to again install old-style radio beacons, because of Russian GPS interference.

As it happens, I saw a much, much smaller scale drone show as a part of a circus performance yesterday. Maybe 20 drones. These flew around and changed colours in a presumably pre-programmed pattern.

It looks like the drones are used as 3d pixels (voxels). The hard part is flying and keeping the thousands of drones in a grid formation, the rest is basically the same as drawing on a computer display.

1700-luvulla ideat matkustivat enintään hevosvetoisten vaunujen vauhdilla. Kuten myös kulkutaudit, joten ei ihme jos näyttää samanlaiselta. Nykyään luulisi ideoiden kulkevan paljon nopeammin, internetissä, ja voivat hypätä merien yli.

jolloin Venäjä ja Kiina sanovat kiitos, ja panevat vauhtia omiin sotilaallisiin seikkailuihinsa sillä välin kun USA tappelee itseään vastaan. Samaan aikaan Ranska ei saa pystyyn hallitusta, ja Saksassa ja itäisessä Euroopassa venäjämieliset populistit valtaavat alaa. Vaarallisia aikoja...

I missed that piece of Finnish culture entirely: This toy did not yet exist when I might have ridden it, and had been out of production for years when my son might have played with it. Now production has been restarted in a slightly modified version, but we are both too old. "Väliinputoaja".

Also illustrates the danger of central gatekeepers for installing apps on equipment! Apple has no alternative ways of installing apps. Android has alternative apps stores and "side-loading" now, but Google has announced changes that would bring them under its control. f-droid.org/en/2025/09/2...