Super Simula

Back in 1988, during Basic Training we were called into a meeting in the last week or two. They were looking for volunteers for a few flight crew positions: B-52 Gunners, C-5, C-141, or C-130 Loadmasters, and KC-135 Boom Operators. I had promised myself not to volunteer for anything, but I had also wanted to be a pilot before I joined. That dream was crushed by the recruiter months earlier… but this looked like a back door into flying. I didn’t hesitate one second. I don’t remember exactly when I was finally issued my flight suits — it may have been at Castle AFB when I was getting to the actual flying part of training. Along with the gear came a whole stash of new things: a watch that glowed in the dark, this switchblade (MC-1 Parachute Knife shown in the photo), flightsuits, summer flying boots, Nomex gloves and long johns, plus a very cool Nomex flight jacket (it was 1988… think Tom Cruise). And patches too! The knife was interesting. It had a lanyard (a word I learned during Survival Training) — basically a string to connect something to yourself so if you drop it, it isn’t lost. And seeing as how this was to be used when bailing out of an aircraft, the last thing you’d want to do while falling through the sky was drop it and lose it. The curved blade was specifically to cut riser cords if there was a problem. The switchblade side was so you could stab your copilot if he got out of line… …no, no… just kidding. The straight blade was just for whatever. Actual use? Not much (I never bailed out). Opening beer bottles after a flight occasionally. Cutting 550 parachute cord (best line in the world) during our infamous “Animal in the Woods” camping parties. And when I got out, I got to keep mine somehow. It was in my helmet bag for ages until one day my 8-year-old son found it. He thought it was cool. He took it to school. I got a phone call. This was in the mid-’90s, the helicopter parenting age… it didn’t go well. It wasn’t much of a knife, but the school’s disciplinarian didn’t seem to care. Bringing a knife to school was a huge major breach of the rules. And the effing bastard wouldn’t return it to me. So… it was gone. I razz my son about it occasionally, but in reality, it’s not like I’d really have much use for it these days. BTW, the button makes the long blade pop out. The little switch stops the button from working so it doesn’t pop out in the special pocket — which could be a big pain in the leg.

@bbnomula @AlexSarzosa1

@PallasGem Gem! Gem in family guy

no way, MANUL IN FAMILY GUY

Figherbomber having some big feels as war fatigue spreads in Russia and the civilian population gets more vocal.

Uhhh

Modern armor has to be thicker to protect against modern bullets. Also no matter how much armor you wear you’re still gonna feel the force of the impact. Pretty sure rifle rounds hitting level IV plates can still break ribs if they’re stopped by the plate.

Sub v Sub ASW as described by a submariner friend: "Imagine you are in a pitch black warehouse with a knife. There may or may not be another person in that warehouse with a knife. Good luck."

one time, this group of girls in my culinary class were genuinely convinced that it stayed permanently stretched and I looked like the misogynistic one because i was a guy arguing with 3 girls about how women's bodies worked

Ivan Stefurak, my husband’s brother, was killed defending Ukrainе at the front. An incredibly bright person. A combat-proven and very talented heavy bomber drone operator in the 67th Brigade. Callsign “Babay.” He was 26. The last time we saw him was at the farewell for their brother Orest Bilinchuk-Portyak. It is hard to believe that neither of them is with us anymore. My deepest condolences to his parents, his sister, and his beloved. Eternal glory and remembrance. Honor 🇺🇦

Most people hear "DMT" and think aliens, machine elves, interdimensional portals. The esoteric reputation is so dominant that it overshadows something far more practical… nn-DMT might be the most effective acute treatment for the most painful condition known to medicine. Cluster headaches are called "suicide headaches" for a reason. The pain is rated worse than cancer, broken bones, and childbirth. Suicidal ideation occurs in 55% of patients. Attacks hit up to eight times a day. And for the chronic variant, there is no approved medication on the market. Psilocybin and LSD can help prevent cycles, and the data there is strong. But they have a practical limitation: onset time. If you're woken at 3am with pain boring into your eye socket, you can't wait 45 minutes for psilocybin to kick in or commit to 6 to 12 hours of altered consciousness. Enter the DMT vape pen. Bob Wold, founder of Clusterbusters, describes it simply: one inhalation, pain gone in 30 seconds. Joe McKay, a retired NYC firefighter and longtime sufferer, keeps one at his bedside. Takes a hit during a nighttime attack and is back asleep within minutes. He returned all his oxygen equipment after years of relying on it. The pharmacology is almost tailor-made for this use case. Onset in seconds with a duration of 10 to 15 minutes. It works at sub-perceptual doses with no tolerance buildup. A single cartridge treats 40 to 50 attacks. The whole thing fits in your pocket. The mechanism of action makes sense too. DMT is a serotonin 2A receptor agonist, structurally similar to the triptans already prescribed for cluster headaches. The difference is that conventional triptans don't abort cluster cycles or extend remission the way psychedelic tryptamines appear to. Same receptor family, but psychedelics seem to do something the pharmaceuticals can't. What would it look like if every cluster headache patient had access to a DMT vape pen that could end their worst attacks in seconds? Picture below is from the underground market.

@YourWaifu the post is cropped, in the caption of the actual post she says its a wig

The more I think about this the funnier it gets

classic