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locodos

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Posts posted by locodos

  1. 1 minute ago, kevwun said:

    That house wine was basically vinegar.  God it was bad.  I assumed most restaurants we ate at would have wines from France, Spain, Italy, the US, etc that I could pick from.  Most of them just had local Greek stuff though.  Not until we were in Egypt did we get a wine list that I knew anything about.

    Things are changing and there are some good Greek wines.  When you get out into the Peloponnese you can see some of the "Wineries" and let me just tell you this, the Italians have NOTHING to fear.  There are a few that have invested in infrastructure and developing wine tourism, but a ton of them are just barebones agricultural buildings, vines, and a donkey.  Which I prefer if the product is great, but rustic doesn't begin to describe it.

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  2. 18 hours ago, kevwun said:

    The moussaka is excellent.  The house red wine is real bad though.  It is the only thing I would avoid there.  I should have done some research on Greek wines.  I don't know anything about them so we had no clue what to try.

    As a young man, my wife and I were in Athens and having dinner with some Greek friends. They were quite a bit older (he was missing a few fingers from fighting in the Greek resistance in WWII) we where somewhere outside the city on a terrace on a beautiful night.  I was 23 or 24 and didn't have a developed taste for wine, but was asked check the latest bottle brought to the table.  It tasted like wine to me, so I told the waiter "Yes that's fine"   After he poured it out for every one, the older Greek took a sip and nearly spit it out.  He called the waiter back and got a different bottle.  I felt bad, and told him I just didn't have a lot of experience with wine and it tasted ok to me.  He laughed and told me not to worry about it, "Greek wines are like our plays, they're all tragedies!"   

  3. 6 hours ago, BamaATL said:

    Fire control is basically the same as I understand it, along with the computer targeting system.  I believe there are hardware changes, but I don't think that should really effect the already trained Himars crews.  

    I assume that Ukraine's Himar teams are more experienced than most of our operators.  They are actively using the systems day in and day out with live ammo on real missions.  Anyone in the US armed forces have that kind of experience?

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  4. 10 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

    Even if they're paper shells, they have value. I would keep them or try to sell, don't dispose.

    They were paper (Peter's IIRC), there might be a box or two squirreled away somewhere that my brother and I didn't find.  My Grandfather was a gruff old dude and parsimonious with words.  I remember him telling us those old shells were "as useful as tits on a bull" then muttered something about blowing our faces off.

  5. 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

    I had some SKS's back in the 90s and yeah, cheapness defined them.  I heard the Russian ones were better, and I wondered because the fit/finish on mine were absolute shit, making me think that whatever machinery they made them on was shitty copies of the original Russian equipment.

    Here's the thing - I only bought them at the urging of a friend (we paid like $150 apiece which we got fleeced, I know) in '94 because we (he) thought they'd go up in price (he swore up and down they'd be worth $500 - $600 or more in very short order). They were not banned under the Assault Weapons Ban (well ours weren't because they were 7 rounds-only, internal), but Clinton or the ATF had banned their import from one or more countries.

    Because they weren't banned under the AWB and their importing was now illegal from I think China, we were sitting on gold, Jerry, gold I tell ya!

    Except they ultimately weren't worth much more than we paid...

    Talked to a gun dealer several years ago about it, and I didn't know it at the time, but the US was importing something like a million or more SKS's a year in the 90s.  He mentioned that with the Soviet Union breaking up, the Chinese were cleaning out warehouses of old shit and had shipped almost a million in just one year.

    He said at one point, there were Russians who would get a line on warehouses full of SKSes, pistols, etc., and they bribe whoever to strip the warehouse and then would hire Russian military jets to fly them into the US, completely legal. He also said a lot of people would buy several of them like we did, hoping to make some bucks, but then would eventually sell them because they weren't banned and there was no point in holding on to something that wasn't going up in value, since there were millions more sitting in warehouses all over Russia and Eastern Europe, many of which hadn't even been used and were still in their original packaging.

    Then there are the Rednecks who have been buying .22 (or pick a caliber) ammo at crazy prices thinking the rounds are an investment.  Fucking Rubes.

    I think of all the shotgun ammo my Grandfather had from before the great depression.  Can't sell it, don't want to shoot it, only the pretty pictures on the boxes have any value.

     

    PS you can, however, cut them open and use the powder to blow up mailboxes, allegedly

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  6. 7 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

     

    We really liked Psyrri, had an apartment there and it worked well for us in that location. But just understand that two blocks one way or the other and things go from a range of casual greek hipster lounges and hookah bars to a abandoned overgrown lot filled with rubble. It's an interesting area. Feels like greek gentrification. We liked the scene and had a good meal there. And the view from the apartment rooftop certainly did not hurt.

     

    IMG-6546.jpg

       

     

    Agree,

    The thing to remember is that if you're only worried about violent crime,  Athens is very safe compared to anywhere in the US.  Yup you'll see junkies and needles in alleys and back streets, if you don't take reasonable precautions you *might* get mugged (much lower chance than US cities) but statistically very safe.  It does look much rougher through US eyes.  My friend from San Fran, of all places, was a twitchy till I showed him the crime comps between Athens and SF.  Then I showed him the murder rate comps LULZ.  'merica!

    Sounds like we might have stayed in the same place.  We (along with 2 other families) rented flats in the tall apartment just a door down from Handlebar.  Had full access to the roof.  Forget the tourist trap rooftop restaurants (although we did go to fancy one), instead grab some good food from a local shop, some nice bottles of wine, and put on some music.  The apartments were ok, but the view and location can't really be beat. 

    <csb>

    I gave my 15 yr old & his friend a challenge to go buy some beers at Handlebar (Like 30yds from the building) and bring them back to us on the rooftop.   They noped out and came back, so we (the dads) went down with them.  They said they were worried about the crowd and scene.  We took them to the bar and waited outside.  This time they were defeated by the hot 20-something braless bartender wearing a thin white t-shirt.  I walked my son up to the bar and asked the bartender if she would have sold him beer.  She smiled at him and said.. "No, but since you're here and it would be fine."  We had a few more out on the street.  The boys didn't mind going to get more beer after that.  Their fear was somehow replaced by an exotic new motivation. Strange how that worked.

    </csb>

     

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  7. 5 minutes ago, G650 said:

    That was the other part of my France 2020 trip that got canned, seeing Le Tour

    Been meaning to go, but never sit down to figure it out ahead of time.  Been close a few times, I was on the other side of the Alps and thought of renting a car to just see some random stage.  But I think it's the sort of thing best enjoyed with some prior planning. (obviously)

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  8. 6 minutes ago, Orange&amp;White said:

    My point is that any maimed and mutilated Ukrainian child could just as easily have been maimed and mutilated by a russian cluster munition than an American munition. The russians are going to do that anyway, no matter if America sends more weapons, so you might as well continue helping Ukraine defeat the russians right now rather than worry about some hypothetical argument that may/may not come after the war is over.

    Fair enough.  I just don't think we should let Russia behavior set our moral standards, which is what I thought you were getting at.

    anyways here's some Russians having a bad short day

     

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  9. 1 minute ago, AUS-97HORN said:

    2. And stop fucking being the devils advocate on this molehill man.

     

     

     

    Wat?   I said I agreed with the decision, but that I was glad it was deliberated.   

    Do you think the extent and rigor of American foreign policy should be "YOLO bitches!"?

    If so, yeah, I'm ready to debate that point.

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  10. 2 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

    If fighting genocide and rape rooms and torture chambers and stolen children and Russia indiscriminately bombing civilian homes, schools and hospitals isn’t enough reason, which all the world saw, then any rational discussion should not lead to condemnation for their use.   If an irrational discussion, ‘fuck ‘em. 

    The world has seen it.  Why then do you suppose German/French/Spanish/Italian/British/Poland/Sweden/Finland fighters haven't closed the skies over Ukraine and rained hell down on the Orcs?

    Because there is a cost benefit equation.  Denying it exists is folly.

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  11. 1 minute ago, Gatorubet said:

    What makes this extremely annoying is the long running refrain of not enough 155 shells.   We had 1 million of them (albeit cluster) sitting in warehouses, waiting to be eventually destroyed. I understand the consequences to civilians from unexploded cluster ordinance, but I would rather side with Ukrainian de-mining risk than with the possibility of Russians destroying my entire civilization in a genocide. 

    It is not even a serious choice when the survival of your country is compared to a “down side” of cleaning up after your country, in fact, survives. 

    So what happens if the current lines harden and the Russians have a ready made stockpile of maimed and mangled children to parade in front of the world for the next 20 years all courtesy of American munitions?  

    It's not like this war is guaranteed to be a slam-dunk win for either side.  It has to be considered/factored in.  There is a reason we are not all in and patrolling the skies over Ukraine.  Every action has a cost and it's best to think about it ahead of time.

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  12. 1 minute ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Bratislava sucks. The beer is expensive and bad and the women are ugly and there’s nothing to do or see in Slovakia or anywhere nearby. American men should stay away for sure. 

    Sounds like you went in the winter time!

    Every time I hear or see Bratislava, I think of that bit. 

    Spoiler

    Scotty Doesn't Know

    Spoiler

    Don't tell Scotty

     

     

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  13. 2 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Something interesting to see is that the Czechs not only flew Zelenskyy from Bulgaria to Prague, they also flew him to Bratislava and now onward to Turkey. Some unspoken but powerful messaging about how Prague feels—- and from a practical POV, a security warning to Russia not to fuck with the flight. 
     

     

     

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  14. 1 hour ago, SquishMitten said:

    Real happy to see cluster munitions coming. I just have not understood the hesitancy at all. We aren’t party to the international agreement not to use them. And the whole argument by humanitarian groups that they are dangerous to civilians rings entirely hollow to me in this situation. Using them while invading another country is one thing, as you’re creating a dangerous situation in somebody else’s future territory (like when we used them in the Middle East or when Russia uses them in Ukraine). But it’s an entirely different thing imo when it’s Ukraine using them on its own territory. They aren’t going to be using them near their own civilians. They are using them to kick the enemy out, and it will be their own responsibility to clean up afterwards. It should not be anybody else’s business what they choose to do to their own territory when it has zero impact on anyone else’s (as opposed to them using something like a nuke on their own territory that COULD affect someone beyond their borders). It’s a localized weapon that is perfectly suited to their situation. If they want them, I frankly find it disgusting that we haven’t provided them sooner. Especially since Russia is already using them all over Ukraine, and I guarantee those Russian munitions have a much higher failure rate than ours. So the biggest argument against providing them is moot.
     

    But as with everything else in this war, better late than never!

    First of all, I agree.

    But the following needs to be considered:

    • If you don't believe the US will be paying for cleanup and reconstruction in Ukraine I think you are fooling yourself.  - It's in our best interests to do so, but that's going to be a hard sell to some Americans and demining will be an expensive and long process.
    • The US also needs to help Ukraine keep international support for their cause, immediately handing over weapons that have PROVEN to hurt civilians erodes that support.
    • America's military power is not seen as a universal force for good that most Americans think it is.  American weapons doing damage and killing kids and farmers for 20 years won't help that image at all.  It won't matter that we supplied them as part of a request from their own people to the families of dead children.  Rockeye is controversial for a reason.  Handing it over has risk to US reputation / soft power.

    That said, it looks like after careful consideration we are moving forward.  I applaud the decision and that it was NOT made lightly.

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  15. 2 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

    The best driving song ever is Skynyrd's cover of J.J. Cale's "Call Me The Breeze," and anyone who disagrees is not only wrong but deserves every single bad thing that could possibly happen to them.

    Early 90's I drove from Gainesville to Aspen Co with a rando from UF.  He had a friend of his father who was an ex-nfl lineman who lived outside Wako. (where I have no idea)   We spent the night at his big ass ranch and then drove west to NM through rolling hills ...   His father's friend told us that the cops didn't write tickets out there, but to watch out for harvesters on the road because if you hit one you're dead.

    All we heard was "they don't write tickets"  so we hauled ass through Texas with the CULT playing on the CD player..  Fucking nirvana! 100+ through rolling hills (it still took for fucking ever)

    Love Removal Machine is the ultimate road trip song!  Fight me!

     

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  16. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/06/1186171096/us-ukraine-cluster-munitions-russia

    Quote

    U.S. officials tell NPR that the Biden administration plans to send cluster bombs, or munitions, to Ukraine to target dug-in Russian forces. An announcement is expected tomorrow.

    The controversial weapons drop dozens of bomblets that human rights groups say endanger civilians.

    Ukraine and Russia are already using cluster munitions on the battlefield, but Ukraine is running low on ammunition and has pressed the U.S. to send such weapons.

    Officials say the cluster bombs will be effective against Russian forces in strong defensive positions as well as command and control headquarters.

    More than 100 countries ban such weapons because unexploded bomblets can be picked up by civilians, causing injury or death. Cluster bombs release a larger number of bomblets over a wide area, and they can continue to pose a deadly risk even long after the fighting has ceased.

    The U.S. has a large stockpile of cluster munitions and used them in both the Afghan and Iraq wars.

     

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  17. Was working at an off campus bookstore (sold text books and other books just across from campus)  I was unpacking some books and ran across a Mapplethorpe coffee table book.  Flipped though it and was like "ok we're selling this now" and stocked it out.

    Difference between porn and art is marketing.

     

    Always wonder about having a morning cup of Joe and just thinking "you know what?, I'd like to look at some dongs" /nothujone

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