I don’t know what magic sauce goes on at Toyota but they’ve been the untouchable top dog for decades.

And the true irony is that Toyota got the secrets from American management consultants in the first place...

“I want to remind us all of the benefits of in-person collaboration.”

Ranked choice voting would be the start to fixing a lot of problems with our political system and probably kill our 2 party dichotomy, increasing the need to do things like build coalitions. Unfortunately for that reason I don’t see it ever happening in the US at the national level. Both Democrats and Republicans see…

They are cheaper than ours, and fit in different niches, not really better. The Apollo-era F-1s and shuttle main engines were masterpieces, but they are stupid expensive (adding to the cost ridiculousness of the SLS that we are just going to chuck them away). There wasn’t much point in engineering alternatives when…

I have to laugh at him whining about being “canceled”. He canceled himself and possibly Russia the minute he gave the order to invade Ukraine.

Russia, Ukraine and possibly the world would be better off if  Vladimir Putin was dead.

Many, many years ago (a few years before the wall fell) I read a book about the USSR that really made the point that they were a paper tiger even back then. To the point that with the rise of modern satellite surveillance tech, we figured out that they had been flat out lying about the populations in their major…

Access to, maybe. Figured out how to make use of - not really.

Are you sure about that? From what I’m hearing about their military equipment, 1986 might be on the newer end of the technology scale. Just because they theoretically had access to it doesn’t mean they took advantage of that.

Russia (and the USSR before them) had a hell of a time flying anything *safely* until they were able to buy western airplanes and especially western support for them. The Soviet era airplanes and airlines were death traps - and that is right back where they are going to shortly be. Not that it matters, since tourism…

Except they really don’t have that any more to any large extent. They can make some neat prototypes that they SAY can do all sorts of things, but they have repeatedly shown zero ability to put any of it into production.

As time goes on, I imagine this may end up being like a Cuba Cars situation. Planes will get stripped for parts to allow others to fly, parts will be cobbled together until they eventually fall apart. If you have a fear of flying, I wouldn’t go anywhere near Russia in the future until this gets cleaned up.

I don’t know why you’re in such an uproar over this, because this ain’t gonna stand.

I wonder if the owners (or likely the insurance companies) can seek compensation against Russia’s foreign assets. I’m sure that will take forever and there will be tons of competition for those funds, but still.

“Putin’s interpretation of Soviet power seems to be on par of what a MAGA’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution is.”

Last time Russia messed with Finland they met a 34 year old 5'3" dude named Simo Häyhä and his antiquated rifle.

And astonishingly incompetent - even the quality of Russian trolling is going down.

They didn’t seize them, they detained them at their winter storage. The owners can simply go ahead and clarify their ownership if they aren’t sanctioned individuals and can take them from there.

Apart from Saint Petersburg, Russia doesn’t have a port in the West. If they want to access the Atlantic, and cannot afford (or do not want to pay for) the Med, then Finland is a pretty good option. Certainly better than waiting for July when the northern ports finally become ice free.

I don’t actually think they are robbing them. They’re just holding all their assets for safe keeping. Like freezing all their bank accounts in other countries. The money is still there, it’s just that they can’t access it right now.