Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as world's largest city, according to UN
21
votes
KapteinB's recent activity
-
-
Comment on New X/Twitter feature revealed many MAGA influencers to be foreigners in ~society
-
Comment on Blue Origin reveals a super-heavy variant of its New Glenn rocket that is taller than a Saturn V in ~space
KapteinB Link ParentI wouldn't say 30% less than Starship is slightly below. But it's still 60% more than Saturn V, so more than enough for a Moon lander.That added firepower will increase the New Glenn booster’s total thrust and allow it to carry “over 70 metric tons to low-Earth orbit,” slightly below Starship’s current theoretical capacity of 100 metric tons.
I wouldn't say 30% less than Starship is slightly below. But it's still 60% more than Saturn V, so more than enough for a Moon lander.
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy ready for 'honest' work on US-backed plan as Europeans push back
19 votes -
Comment on Polish train track that helped transport aid to Ukraine destroyed in ‘act of sabotage,’ prime minister says in ~society
KapteinB LinkGermany confirms long-range missile delivery to Ukraine amid strategic shift (Türkiye Today)Germany confirms long-range missile delivery to Ukraine amid strategic shift (Türkiye Today)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced Wednesday that Berlin will provide long-range missile systems to Ukraine but refused to disclose specific details about the weapons or delivery schedule, citing a new strategy of strategic ambiguity aimed at Moscow.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
KapteinB Link ParentThat's a fun AAR! Thanks for sharing. :-) I still remember the first time I played EU4, also as Castille, also doing a series of wars against Aragon. At some point though we were on friendly...That's a fun AAR! Thanks for sharing. :-)
With that sorted out, I turned my attention to my obnoxious rival neighbors, the Aragonese. I managed to slice them in half in our first war against each other, cutting off the French from Iberia by taking all the northern Iberian Provinces, and also cutting their Capital off from the rest of their territory by forcing them to release Catalonia.
I still remember the first time I played EU4, also as Castille, also doing a series of wars against Aragon. At some point though we were on friendly enough terms that we did a royal marriage, and then a scripted event happened where their monarch died and I inherited the whole country, and it annoyed me so much, because if I had known about that event beforehand I would have directed my armies towards other neighbours instead. It kinda soured me on the game from early on, and how deterministic it is is still my least favourite thing about it.
Is EU5 less deterministic than EU4? I miss the more sandbox-y experience of EU3, and your AAR makes it sounds like EU5 has gone more in that direction.
-
Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
KapteinB Link ParentYeah I think part of the reason the PS3 was bought in bulk for supercomputers was that Sony had to do drastic price cuts to compete with the Xbox 360. But also the weird CPU made it very well...Yeah I think part of the reason the PS3 was bought in bulk for supercomputers was that Sony had to do drastic price cuts to compete with the Xbox 360. But also the weird CPU made it very well suited for certain types of computations.
I actually installed Linux on mine, hoping it could cover my desktop needs, but the user experience turned out to be awful. The PS3 has so little RAM that everything ran dreadfully slow, and the GPU was unavailable, which I believe Sony did intentionally to avoid piracy. If I recall correctly, hackers still found a way to access to GPU, which led Sony to quickly patch out the OtherOS functionality. My PS3 ended up collecting dust next to my 360.
-
Comment on Polish train track that helped transport aid to Ukraine destroyed in ‘act of sabotage,’ prime minister says in ~society
KapteinB LinkNATO Nation Evacuates Residents After Russian Strike on Ship (Newsweek)NATO Nation Evacuates Residents After Russian Strike on Ship (Newsweek)
NATO member Romania evacuated residents after a suspected Russian drone strike hit a Turkish LPG tanker in Ukraine's Izmail Port, sparking the risk of a huge explosion.
The affected vessel is named "ORINDA," according to Turkish shipping publication Deniz Haber. All 16 crew members evacuated the ship and are safe, the report said.
-
Polish train track that helped transport aid to Ukraine destroyed in ‘act of sabotage,’ prime minister says
24 votes -
Comment on Russia's new "Skyfall' missile - evaluation and the danger of "superweapon syndrome" in ~society
KapteinB LinkUkraine’s New 1,000km ‘Long Neptune’ Missile Seen in Action Against Russia (Newsweek)Ukraine’s New 1,000km ‘Long Neptune’ Missile Seen in Action Against Russia (Newsweek)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video that he said showed his country's new "Long Neptune" cruise missile, which has a range of up to 1,000-kilometer (621 miles), in action against Russia. It was unveiled in March 2025 after successful testing and Zelensky said it is being used in combat.
-
Comment on Blue Origin sticks first New Glenn rocket landing and launches NASA spacecraft in ~space
KapteinB Link ParentUS foreign policy tends to do a 180 every 4-8 years, but there is a risk they're moving towards becoming a China-style one party state now... I'm not sure there's much to gain from militarising...Trump building a lunar base would be quickly followed by the US aggressively militarizing the Moon. Would China do the same? IDK, probably.
US foreign policy tends to do a 180 every 4-8 years, but there is a risk they're moving towards becoming a China-style one party state now... I'm not sure there's much to gain from militarising the Moon, but it definitely sounds like something Trump might do.
I still want to see humans living in space.
Just because it would be cool, or do you think it would be useful?
However, with Trump's recent re-appointment of Isaacman to NASA Administrator, the near-future is probably going to be all-SpaceX all-the-time.
What's the situation with Musk and Trump these days anyway; are they friends again? And how does Isaacman fit into this; is he a Musk ally?
-
Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 10 in ~society
KapteinB LinkUS announces ‘Southern Spear’ mission as forces deploy to South America (Al Jazeera)US announces ‘Southern Spear’ mission as forces deploy to South America (Al Jazeera)
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has formally announced the launch of a US military operation to target so-called “narco-terrorists” as Washington’s large-scale build-up of troops, warships and fighter jets continues in Latin America.
“Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
-
China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past eighteen months, analysis finds
41 votes -
Comment on Russia's new "Skyfall' missile - evaluation and the danger of "superweapon syndrome" in ~society
KapteinB LinkUkrainian Robot Boats Hit Russian Black Sea Oil Terminal (Kyiv Post)Ukrainian Robot Boats Hit Russian Black Sea Oil Terminal (Kyiv Post)
It was a follow-up strike to a damaging attack hitting Tuapse ten days ago. There are unconfirmed reports Ukraine also launched its big Flamingo cruise missile at the port.
-
Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 3 in ~society
KapteinB LinkMarjorie Taylor Greene Knows Exactly What She’s Doing (The Atlantic)Marjorie Taylor Greene Knows Exactly What She’s Doing (The Atlantic)
The “Jewish space lasers” lady may be positioning herself to lead the MAGA movement.
-
Intercepted communications link Indian government to British Columbia Sikh leader’s assassination
20 votes -
The ten best board games we played at Spiel Essen 2025
21 votes -
Astronauts stranded in space after their return capsule is struck by mystery object in orbit
30 votes -
Comment on Russia's new "Skyfall' missile - evaluation and the danger of "superweapon syndrome" in ~society
KapteinB LinkRussian Rebels Burn Dozens of Locomotives Supplying Putin’s War, HUR Says (Kyiv Post)Russian Rebels Burn Dozens of Locomotives Supplying Putin’s War, HUR Says (Kyiv Post)
HUR says Russian partisans destroyed dozens of locomotives used to transport weapons and ammunition for Putin’s army, dealing “powerful blows” to Moscow’s wartime logistics.
-
Comment on Germans have a reputation for being Europe's most enthusiastic nudists – but survey suggests Danes are not only more accepting of stripping off in public, but more likely to have actually done so in ~life
KapteinB Link ParentBeauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but there are statistics for things like breast size and penis size. It should be possible to do some number crunching to combine them with for...Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but there are statistics for things like breast size and penis size. It should be possible to do some number crunching to combine them with for example the naturism index to make a map of countries to avoid.
I remember much of the fake news during the 2016 election turned out to Eastern European teenagers grinding Google's ad network. They mostly did anti-Clinton pieces, as it turned out those got more page views than anti-Trump or pro-either. Apparently, pro-Trump posts now get more Twitter engagements than anti-Trump posts. Maybe that says something about the users who still remain there after all the controversies.