Given that NATO mandates 2% GDP on defence, they’re pulling their weight. Estonia is not a large country, so $1.5B goes a lot further there than in larger nations.

Abrams turrets are steeper and slope down towards the hull more. And the turret is overall thicker too, I think. Those are definitely Russian tanks, but my expertise on identifying Russian models is sadly lacking

It’s been unlikely to ever deploy again since the floating drydock it was in caught fire and almost sank the damn boat

Fellow New Mexican checking in; our food always incorporates a hatch chile sauce of one (or both) colors, and hot damn is it tasty! Having chile with every meal is probably the thing I miss about NM the most (after my parents, ofc). New Mexican food is its own category, separate from Mexican food.

If it was meant in a “lay off me” or “get off my back” way, I think “stop busting my balls” would be an accurate translation

Could that be translated more colloquially to “stop busting my balls”?

A screw, bolt, nut, etc. that could feasibly have come from the car itself

So by implication, the more prominent leaders of the Taliban don’t have souls? I suppose that tracks?

To add on, most of us are probably used to seeing American Nimitz- and *Ford-*class carriers, which have flight decks covering approx. 4.5 and 5 acres respectively, while the Liaoning only has about 3.5 acres, and loses a lot of that real estate to the ski jump. American carriers tend to be built with extra parking spaces for aircraft on the deck, partially to get more bang for our buck, but also because you can park planes on a CATOBAR deck without much difficulty.

In addition, Nimitz- and *Ford-*class carriers each carry approx. 90 aircraft of various types, compared to the Liaoning’s 45 or so.

The bottom line is American carriers tend to keep aircraft on deck while sailing around, because they carry so many of them and have more space on the deck for parking, while the Liaoning likely has enough hangar bay space for her much smaller complement of aircraft.

Was at a brewery last night where the “bathroom” was a row of sinks, and then a row of doors labeled “sit” or “stand”. The commode cubicles were full length walls and doors, totally private, and this just makes so much more sense to me

Depends on the phase of construction. The pressure hull will be fully complete before being floated for the first time, with most (if not all) systems installed. But there still may be operational testing, training, etc. going on that is part of the construction process. Those types of things can take place waterborne (and in some cases are required to), which frees up space for construction of the next hull to begin.

I see where you’re coming from on it being AI generated, but I think it’s actually the wings and canards from a second plane perfectly behind the front one. If you look closely, you can see the nose as well.

Baseball cap at a baseball game over the weekend, or a hard hat at work last night, depending if you count that as a hat

True, however I have to assume that fuel tanks tend to be lower on the locomotives (and therefore nearer the tracks), so as long as the explosive is high enough energy to set off the fuel, it’ll do a lot of the work for you. As will momentum, because all the explosive has to do is damage the tracks and jostle the engine, and the length of cars behind will keep on moving, go of the rails, and slam into the fireball.

Or detonate the payload beneath a train to destroy both the train AND the track

All Ukraine has to do is nothing. The Kuznetsov has about a 75% chance of sinking every time it puts to sea

I have not had first hand experience, but I would recommend you find out if the degree program you’re interested in from them is accredited or not. The school I went to for undergrad has ABET accreditation for the Mechanical Engineering program (and the applicable accreditations for all other degrees). A lot of employers do require your program be accredited, and whether or not TECH has the applicable accreditations will tell you a) whether it would be a good move for you career-wise and b) whether you can expect the appropriate amount of rigor from the program (i.e. The program may be a degree-mill rather than an actual learning opportunity).

I feel like that comes down to misconceptions over X-ray vs. MRI. Because you absolutely CANNOT have any metal on you for an MRI.

Replace the T with Texas Instruments and I’m in

They fill the bung holes