Ulric

On this day, 15 years ago.

 
 

 
 
 

 

   Leonid Rashal (very well known doctor) in Beslan, Sept 1st/2nd.
 

   Ruslan Aushev walking to school
 

 

   Gym - in the middle, workshops - on the left, Acting hall - left, near corner of building, library - right side.
 
 

 
 

 
 

   FSB unit "White coal" from Essentuki
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
   NSFW
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

   After operation.
 
 
   Soldiers that died during those events:

 
   1. Dmitry Razumovsky ("Major") - lieutenant colonel, head of the Directorate "V" of the TsSN of the FSB of Russia. He was awarded the star of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously). During assault killed 2 terrorists that were shooting at fleeing hostages. Was killed during room-to-room combat inside of the school.


 
 
2. Alexander Perov (“Pooh”) - Major, Head of the Task Force of the 1st Division of the Directorate “A” of the TsN FSB of Russia. When the brutal battle suddenly began on September 3, 2004, Alexander Perov, acting decisively and courageously, personally destroyed one of the four bandits who fired at the hostage children. During combat inside of the school, Major Perov was covering special forces group, but suddenly a terrorist appeared from the opposite side and opened fire in the back of the officers. He destroyed terrorist, but he himself was mortally wounded. He was awarded the star of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).
 

 
 
3. Oleg Ilyin (“Skala”/ "Rock") - lieutenant colonel, head of 4th fireteam of 3rd department of the Directorate “V” of the TsSN FSB of Russia. Initially acting in the schoolyard, Oleg Ilyin with his subordinates diverted the fire of terrorists who shot at the escaping hostages. In this battle he was wounded, but remained in action. Then he burst into the school building, where he discovered another group of terrorists ready to break out of school. In a fierce battle with point-blank fire, he destroyed two militants. Distracting the attention of the bandits on himself, he saved the life of the soldiers following him and ensured by his actions the complete destruction of this group of terrorists. In this battle, Colonel Ilyin was killed. He was awarded the star of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).

 
 
4. Andrey Turkin ("Cherkess") - lieutenant, operative of the 2nd department of the Directorate "V" of the TsSN FSB of Russia. Andrei Turkin, as part of his unit, burst into the school building under fire of militants. He was injured, but did not leave the battle. Covering the hostage rescue with fire, he personally destroyed one terrorist. When one of the terrorists, hiding in the pantry, threw a grenade at the hostages, the officer rushed and covered grenade with his body. He was awarded the star of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).

 
 
5. Mikhail Kuznetsov ("Domovoy") - FSB major. During the special operation, he evacuated more than 20 wounded hostages, mainly children. Covering his group, Mikhail joined the battle with two terrorists and, having destroyed them, died. Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class, with swords (posthumous).

 
 
6. Vyacheslav Malyarov (“Malyar”/"Painter") major, senior detective of Department 1 of Directorate “A” of the CTsSN FSB. During combat inside the building, he blocked the direction of the fire, which was carried out by four bandits in direction of room with the hostages. Having been mortally wounded, Vyacheslav continued to fight, wounded two terrorists and forced them to retreat.
   Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree with swords (posthumous).

 
 
7. Andrey Velko - Major, employee of the Directorate “V” of the TsSN FSB of the Russian Federation. As part of the assault group, he entered the school building. Destroyed one of the Basayevites and ensured the actions of the group. Then he came into fire contact with another terrorist and destroyed him. The officer received multiple fatal injuries, covering hostages. Posthumously awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, IV degree.

 
 
8. Roman Katasonov - major, senior operative of the 4th department of the Directorate “V” of the TsSN FSB of Russia. Major Roman Katasonov during the assault penetrated the building and destroyed two terrorists. In one of the rooms he found two hidden children. Rescuing them and covering up the assault group's employees, Roman was fighting with a terrorist's machine gun crew and was mortally wounded.
   Cavalier of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, IV degree, with swords (posthumous).

 
 
9. Denis Pudovkin (“Gusar”) - ensign, senior instructor of the 3rd department of the Directorate “V” of the TsSN FSB of Russia. He destroyed one of the bandits who was shooting at the children. He carried wounded schoolchildren under fire. Having received a shrapnel wound, he continued to save people. Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (posthumous)
 

 
 
10. Oleg Loskov - ensign, senior instructor of the 1st department of the Directorate “A” of the TsSN FSB. As part of an assault group, he encountered four bandits trying to escape from the school building under the cover of fleeing hostages. He wounded one of the terrorists and, obscuring the hostages, blocked the bandits from escaping. Having been mortally wounded, Oleg continued to support the actions of the assault group with fire. He was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (posthumous).

   In Beslan
 
 
 

Oh, I'm aware of the poll tax and literacy test, and what they were historically used for.
 
In the modern age, and at face value, I think everyone should have to pass a literacy test to vote. If you can't read what you are voting on, you have no business voting. Also, universal suffrage was a mistake. Letting the beneficiaries decide how much money they get to take from the benefactors never ends well. Heinlein had it right in Starship Troopers: you get to vote after you put skin in the game.

Oh boy, I'm going to need some popcorn for this one.
 
Don't get me wrong, I do understand somewhat of how people outside the US feel about America's firearm proclivities, but there are some fundamental cultural and legal aspects you are missing out on.
 
So, firearms that are introduced into commerce in the US are required to have a serial number. This number officially isn't tracked in any database, and by law the federal government cannot maintain a list of who owns what. They find other ways around that law, but the amount of paperwork they have to process to pin anyone down to any firearm can be pretty crazy. Much of the firearms sales records in the country are paper records, so when the ATF does a trace on a gun, they have to comb through their paper database, find the store that sold it, and ask them to look through the stores records to find the private buyer, and go from there. A serial number that has been destroyed or obliterated is a big no no, and you cannot have one reissued to you, because that breaks any sorts of traceability. The said, there are legal ways to have an unserialized/unmarked firearm in the US. It is still illegal for felons to be in possession of firearms or ammunition, but there is nothing physically stopping them from making their own firearms. If they can't make them, they will buy them on the black market, or steal them.
 
As far as a national database, an official one will be very unpopular, because there belief in the US gun community is that registration is a necessary step towards total confiscation. Considering that our war for independence started when the British tried to disarm a local militia, confiscation won't go over very well here, and neither will registration. Colorado can't even enforce it's magazine ban and universal background check.
 
Creating incentive structures on purchases through taxation is troublesome, from a legal standpoint. You cannot impose taxes that would have a chilling effect on the free exercise of a protected right, in theory. In practice, they like to pretend that the 2nd amendment, which happens to be pretty fucking clear in it's meaning, is an orphan when it comes to legal protection in the courts. People treat it like an absolute bastard of an amendment, making up complete bullshit to help achieve the interpretation that they want. But anyways, there always be ways around stupid laws and definitions like that. People will make a "hunting" rifle variant to a avoid the tax, but the rifle will be trivial to convert to it's "assault" configuration.
 
As far as getting people to buy "less lethal" weapons, good luck. Firearms exist because they are a tool designed to apply lethal force. Lethality is their raison d'etre. Practicality is determined by other factors, not lethality. Generally, if it is a defensive firearm, you go with the most lethal option that is in your scope of "practical".
 
Everyone thinks there is this massive gun crime problem in the US, which is what people would assume after hearing about these mass shootings. The actual numbers are very different. Firearm related deaths aren't even in the top 10 causes of death in the US, and way less than that if you take out suicides. We have over a hundred million gun owners, with close to five hundred million guns in the US, 46% of the total number of firearms in the world. We have 30,000 gun deaths of all types annually. Suicide is more than half, and if you take it down to just homicide, it's about 12,000 deaths. The kicker is that 8,000 of those are gang related shooting in certain urban areas with handguns. The same urban areas that have the strictest gun control laws in the US, and has been run by the same party for 60 years. The same party that wants more gun control on a national level. It's been a while since I've seen the numbers, but that's the rough breakdown. So, I don't really see a 0.0024% rate of firearms to homicides to be a problem. If anything, it's pretty fucking amazing. And it's not one firearm per homicide, either, so the actually rate in lower still. Basically, +99.99% of guns in the US will never be used to take a life. Guns are not the problem.

"See something, say something" they say about red flag laws, unless it's the son of some radical islamic imam training kids in the New Mexico to commit school shootings. If that's the case, they will just dismiss the charges and sweep it under the rug.

Oh boy, I'm going to need some popcorn for this one.
 
Don't get me wrong, I do understand somewhat of how people outside the US feel about America's firearm proclivities, but there are some fundamental cultural and legal aspects you are missing out on.
 
So, firearms that are introduced into commerce in the US are required to have a serial number. This number officially isn't tracked in any database, and by law the federal government cannot maintain a list of who owns what. They find other ways around that law, but the amount of paperwork they have to process to pin anyone down to any firearm can be pretty crazy. Much of the firearms sales records in the country are paper records, so when the ATF does a trace on a gun, they have to comb through their paper database, find the store that sold it, and ask them to look through the stores records to find the private buyer, and go from there. A serial number that has been destroyed or obliterated is a big no no, and you cannot have one reissued to you, because that breaks any sorts of traceability. The said, there are legal ways to have an unserialized/unmarked firearm in the US. It is still illegal for felons to be in possession of firearms or ammunition, but there is nothing physically stopping them from making their own firearms. If they can't make them, they will buy them on the black market, or steal them.
 
As far as a national database, an official one will be very unpopular, because there belief in the US gun community is that registration is a necessary step towards total confiscation. Considering that our war for independence started when the British tried to disarm a local militia, confiscation won't go over very well here, and neither will registration. Colorado can't even enforce it's magazine ban and universal background check.
 
Creating incentive structures on purchases through taxation is troublesome, from a legal standpoint. You cannot impose taxes that would have a chilling effect on the free exercise of a protected right, in theory. In practice, they like to pretend that the 2nd amendment, which happens to be pretty fucking clear in it's meaning, is an orphan when it comes to legal protection in the courts. People treat it like an absolute bastard of an amendment, making up complete bullshit to help achieve the interpretation that they want. But anyways, there always be ways around stupid laws and definitions like that. People will make a "hunting" rifle variant to a avoid the tax, but the rifle will be trivial to convert to it's "assault" configuration.
 
As far as getting people to buy "less lethal" weapons, good luck. Firearms exist because they are a tool designed to apply lethal force. Lethality is their raison d'etre. Practicality is determined by other factors, not lethality. Generally, if it is a defensive firearm, you go with the most lethal option that is in your scope of "practical".
 
Everyone thinks there is this massive gun crime problem in the US, which is what people would assume after hearing about these mass shootings. The actual numbers are very different. Firearm related deaths aren't even in the top 10 causes of death in the US, and way less than that if you take out suicides. We have over a hundred million gun owners, with close to five hundred million guns in the US, 46% of the total number of firearms in the world. We have 30,000 gun deaths of all types annually. Suicide is more than half, and if you take it down to just homicide, it's about 12,000 deaths. The kicker is that 8,000 of those are gang related shooting in certain urban areas with handguns. The same urban areas that have the strictest gun control laws in the US, and has been run by the same party for 60 years. The same party that wants more gun control on a national level. It's been a while since I've seen the numbers, but that's the rough breakdown. So, I don't really see a 0.0024% rate of firearms to homicides to be a problem. If anything, it's pretty fucking amazing. And it's not one firearm per homicide, either, so the actually rate in lower still. Basically, +99.99% of guns in the US will never be used to take a life. Guns are not the problem.

Oh boy, I'm going to need some popcorn for this one.
 
Don't get me wrong, I do understand somewhat of how people outside the US feel about America's firearm proclivities, but there are some fundamental cultural and legal aspects you are missing out on.
 
So, firearms that are introduced into commerce in the US are required to have a serial number. This number officially isn't tracked in any database, and by law the federal government cannot maintain a list of who owns what. They find other ways around that law, but the amount of paperwork they have to process to pin anyone down to any firearm can be pretty crazy. Much of the firearms sales records in the country are paper records, so when the ATF does a trace on a gun, they have to comb through their paper database, find the store that sold it, and ask them to look through the stores records to find the private buyer, and go from there. A serial number that has been destroyed or obliterated is a big no no, and you cannot have one reissued to you, because that breaks any sorts of traceability. The said, there are legal ways to have an unserialized/unmarked firearm in the US. It is still illegal for felons to be in possession of firearms or ammunition, but there is nothing physically stopping them from making their own firearms. If they can't make them, they will buy them on the black market, or steal them.
 
As far as a national database, an official one will be very unpopular, because there belief in the US gun community is that registration is a necessary step towards total confiscation. Considering that our war for independence started when the British tried to disarm a local militia, confiscation won't go over very well here, and neither will registration. Colorado can't even enforce it's magazine ban and universal background check.
 
Creating incentive structures on purchases through taxation is troublesome, from a legal standpoint. You cannot impose taxes that would have a chilling effect on the free exercise of a protected right, in theory. In practice, they like to pretend that the 2nd amendment, which happens to be pretty fucking clear in it's meaning, is an orphan when it comes to legal protection in the courts. People treat it like an absolute bastard of an amendment, making up complete bullshit to help achieve the interpretation that they want. But anyways, there always be ways around stupid laws and definitions like that. People will make a "hunting" rifle variant to a avoid the tax, but the rifle will be trivial to convert to it's "assault" configuration.
 
As far as getting people to buy "less lethal" weapons, good luck. Firearms exist because they are a tool designed to apply lethal force. Lethality is their raison d'etre. Practicality is determined by other factors, not lethality. Generally, if it is a defensive firearm, you go with the most lethal option that is in your scope of "practical".
 
Everyone thinks there is this massive gun crime problem in the US, which is what people would assume after hearing about these mass shootings. The actual numbers are very different. Firearm related deaths aren't even in the top 10 causes of death in the US, and way less than that if you take out suicides. We have over a hundred million gun owners, with close to five hundred million guns in the US, 46% of the total number of firearms in the world. We have 30,000 gun deaths of all types annually. Suicide is more than half, and if you take it down to just homicide, it's about 12,000 deaths. The kicker is that 8,000 of those are gang related shooting in certain urban areas with handguns. The same urban areas that have the strictest gun control laws in the US, and has been run by the same party for 60 years. The same party that wants more gun control on a national level. It's been a while since I've seen the numbers, but that's the rough breakdown. So, I don't really see a 0.0024% rate of firearms to homicides to be a problem. If anything, it's pretty fucking amazing. And it's not one firearm per homicide, either, so the actually rate in lower still. Basically, +99.99% of guns in the US will never be used to take a life. Guns are not the problem.

"See something, say something" they say about red flag laws, unless it's the son of some radical islamic imam training kids in the New Mexico to commit school shootings. If that's the case, they will just dismiss the charges and sweep it under the rug.

Original memes, do not steal.

Original memes, do not steal.

As I'm reading through this thread, I'm envisioning some feminist who had come across a monkey's paw years ago. The wishes have been granted, and the fingers have curled in.
 
The other issue is that anyone who legitimately points out issues that males are facing are labeled as MRAs and derided for even entertaining those ideas, even if they are a female. To a certain degree, I feel that 3rd wave feminism has contributed to this problem of mass shootings.

As I'm reading through this thread, I'm envisioning some feminist who had come across a monkey's paw years ago. The wishes have been granted, and the fingers have curled in.
 
The other issue is that anyone who legitimately points out issues that males are facing are labeled as MRAs and derided for even entertaining those ideas, even if they are a female. To a certain degree, I feel that 3rd wave feminism has contributed to this problem of mass shootings.

It seems very counterproductive to try to "pin" these attacks on one or more political groups. I don't think either the mainstream right or left wing are rushing to own either of them. So then we're down to talking root causes, and if the point of labeling a terrorist as left-wing is to try to imply there's something about left-wing ideology that makes its adherents very likely to kill people, well we've got lots of examples of right-wingers killing people so that kinda falls flat regardless of how you dice it.

Rabbit holes aren't helpful here. Redefining right or left or digging up archaic definitions that no longer have meaning in the public space just obfuscate the issue. Not only that, but they distract from the obvious root cause of these shootings: Mental derangement caused by a perceived lack of prospects, incentives, or status in society on the part of (usually young) men. With only one or two exceptions, every shooter has been male, and likewise with only one or two exceptions every shooter has been perceived to be low-status. Either young, poor, socially awkward, rejected by women, or a cocktail mix of the above.

The problem is with men. The problem is as old as time. Humans are animals and men as a sex are a particular variety of them that are prone to violence. If I were a feminist, I would take this in some kind of man-hating direction, but that's stupid and that attitude has actually led to a lot of these problems. In many ways young men are treated as second class citizens in a way that young women are not. This has not escaped them, even if it's considered impolite to talk about. Throw in the delegitimization of traditional monogamy, the direct competition of women and men in the workforce and in education (where women are winning, obviously), and at the fringes of cognitive normalcy you're going to find people that will take this barbaric route. Contrary to the idiotic psychological theories of the 20th Century, violence comes very easily to young men, and though these atrocious acts make little sense in modern society, they seem to highlight what's really going on here when considered in an evo-psych context. In the Bible, you have Samson killing an entire Phillistine army with a jawbone of an ass. Of course you do. That's the fantasy these people are indulging. They have projected their problems to everyone around them, see enemies everywhere, and have in their heads undertaken a heroic destructor role. "Murder is heroic", a la Plinkett. 

We've dealt with this male nature before. But we decided in the 20th Century that men were not actually intrinsically violent, and that they would just go quietly along with the liberation of society and the undoing of previously rigid social mores. Well, most did. Some shot up schools, though.

Fixing this will require more than our politicians can deliver, I think. We, culturally, will need to either reconcile postmodern liberalism with more classical techniques for managing the male population, or we will need to reject postmodern liberalism altogether. That has some distasteful implications. I doubt we'll figure it out.

Playing around with tweakscale.
 






 
The crew compartments are the only thing at 1:1 scale. That engine puts out a peak thrust of >40MN.
 

my grandma´s CZ-55, which my Dad inherited and now it´s mine and i hope that one day my daughter will get it from me


 
that´s my baby girl!
 
 

It flies again!
 
This time it has a modular engine bay. The power plants can be pulled and replaced without upsetting the wing spars. This is the nuclear powered variant.
 




 

You need to have more respect for other cultures. Murdering Christians, sorry, Easter Worshippers is a rich and vibrant part of their heritage and we must respect that. Should you find yourself being ripped to shreds by shrapnel, you should be glad to be able to participate in the culture in a non appropriative way.
 
Remember, they are getting ready for Bombadan, their most holy of times.

I went to the range with a friend of mine the other day. It wasn't difficult to decide which rifle to take. While we were there, his AR was having some problems, and we needed some tools to take it down and address the issues. He starts looking around for something that can stand in as a punch; car keys, cartridges, knife, etc. I calmly walk over to the ever prepared Kalashnikov rifle and retrieve it's included toolkit, which I used to repair his decadent capitalist rifle, pampered and unprepared for use in the field.
 
Without me even saying a word, my friend looks over to me and says "shut up, just shut up"

I found a new paperweight for my desk. This will considerably augment the document anchoring capacity of my 37mm M59 projectile.
 

It flies again!
 
This time it has a modular engine bay. The power plants can be pulled and replaced without upsetting the wing spars. This is the nuclear powered variant.
 




 

Look, the dishes were dirty, and they REALLY needed a jam spreader.

Jesus God, we are reaching new levels of autism and SJW mockery not previously thought possible with this competition
 
I will have to expand my whiskey budget if I wish to participate in this competition, as well as quit my full time job to focus on this
 
I'm just saying, 2 months of work for 50 capitalist pig scrip is a poor trade. Maybe an honorary title should be bestowed, as well.
 

Jesus God, we are reaching new levels of autism and SJW mockery not previously thought possible with this competition
 
I will have to expand my whiskey budget if I wish to participate in this competition, as well as quit my full time job to focus on this
 
I'm just saying, 2 months of work for 50 capitalist pig scrip is a poor trade. Maybe an honorary title should be bestowed, as well.
 

Jesus God, we are reaching new levels of autism and SJW mockery not previously thought possible with this competition
 
I will have to expand my whiskey budget if I wish to participate in this competition, as well as quit my full time job to focus on this
 
I'm just saying, 2 months of work for 50 capitalist pig scrip is a poor trade. Maybe an honorary title should be bestowed, as well.
 

Did you just refer to worms as a lesser lifeforms than us? That is is very Annelidphobic of you. Please use men as objects of your derision