I am glad to see that whoever released this blurred out almost everything in the OSD, even if it makes my identification harder, as it helps keep sensitive information private private, but I'll reiterate some concerns that I've posted earlier that maybe there should be some sort of standard unit in the military that does the censorship before release.

• First point. Some of the numbers "leaked" around the edge of the blurred area. Probably nothing critical, but I'm sure that it's not intentional.

• Second, I don't know how hard it is to reverse a blurring operation. I am pretty sure that the censoring software isn't deleting the area in question and then regenerating it fully using pixels at the edge, because that flashing bit that I assume is a "low battery" warning shows up even with no pixels on either side of the blurred area visible, and doesn't "snap" from one side to another when the blurred area shifts from exposing a few pixels on one side to exposing a few on another. And if that's the case, it may be possible to reverse some of the operation.

  If Ukraine is using a method that isn't adequately-hardened to censor these, and is using the same approach on many videos, then Russian intelligence can potentially restore that information.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_deconvolution

  

  From left: Original image, blurred image, image deblurred using Wiener deconvolution.

• Third, this, like a number of videos I've seen, look like they're from a cellphone camera of a drone display. That's not the end of the world, and I don't know if all those drones have some way to export video. However, I'd think that if they don't, Ukrainian intelligence may want a way to archive the footage that they're taking, because all of this footage near the front is probably interesting for all sorts of analysis. And if it can be exported directly from the drone feed to be released, I'd think that that'd be preferable, because it also means that there's no risk of information being leaked from other sources, like background sound from inside an FPV base ("nest"?), which is something that I've seen sometimes, thought not in this video, or video including background shots of the FPV base, or reflections.

Kind of curious what they used to hit the thing.

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2024/01/19/identifying-small-drones-from-screenshots-and-displays/

The crosshair in the posted video looks similar to the Aeorozvidka’s R-18 screenshot. That "S" symbol looks like the "throttle percent" symbol in the Betaflight OSD software, and the number (~70) would be about right.

I'm not sure that it's either of them, though.

They link to this archive of drone OSD screenshots.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z0m2rqD_EgjtdA8T4YhSvfUbqY3nOjs2KyLhR2oiktc/edit

But nothing in there looks quite like this either.

Be kind of nice if there was some corpus of images that someone could train an AI model on to auto-identify drone type from screenshots via image classification. I mean, there probably is, but for public use, rather than intelligence agencies.

More context:

https://www.twz.com/air/why-did-russia-just-shoot-down-its-own-fighter-sized-s-70-hunter-drone-over-ukraine

He has assault with a dangerous weapon charges in there (which I assume is Minnesota's term for what is "deadly weapon" here), so I'd guess that he was using a gun or maybe a knife against someone in at least one of his prior incidents, so I'd give reasonable odds that if he was using a weapon in the attempted carjacking, it wasn't a Nerf gun.

EDIT: Yeah. Minnesota criminal code:

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.02

Subd. 6.Dangerous weapon.

"Dangerous weapon" means any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm, any combustible or flammable liquid or other device or instrumentality that, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm, or any fire that is used to produce death or great bodily harm.

And if he has assault charges, he would have been using on someone, not just carrying it.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this isn't the nicest neighborhood in the world, and there are probably other kids on the playground getting up to their own shennanigans.

kagis for North Minneapolis

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/25/us/minneapolis-crime-defund-invs/index.html

A feeling of lawlessness, a sense of neglect

Residents of the north side describe a landscape that can feel lawless. Indeed, about 60% of police calls for shots fired this year have come from the area, even though it makes up just 15% of the population, according to city data.

Paul Johnson, 56, said young men openly sell drugs during the day in public places, such as a gas station on Broadway Avenue that has been dubbed the “murder station” due to all of the fatal shootings there. (It is near the one where Blair was killed.)

“You pull up to get gas – they try to sell you drugs,” he said. “And not just three or four, but it’s a bulk of people.”

The perception among many residents is that the police ignore the area.

“They just let it go on,” said Johnson’s friend, Brian Bogan, 42, who said he moved from north Minneapolis to relatively safer St. Paul due to his kids growing up in an area where they don’t know if “it’s fireworks or gunshots.”

https://www.fox9.com/news/are-crime-maps-holding-back-north-minneapolis

Red all over

CoreLogic’s map for North Minneapolis shows an enormous swath of red from Golden Valley Road to the south, spanning the length of seven neighborhoods: Near North, Willard-Hay, Jordan, Hawthorne, Folwell, McKinley, and Camden.

Nearly the entire northwest side of the city is saturated in crimson red.

CoreLogic says the red zone means the area has up to five times the national average for property and violent crime.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/mpd-chief-hennepin-county-attorney-spar-over-referral-of-juvenile-crime-cases/

MPD chief, Hennepin County attorney spar over referral of juvenile crime cases

One day after a drive-by shooting injured four kids in north Minneapolis, the Hennepin County attorney and Minneapolis police chief are sparring over strategies to stop the cycle of juvenile crime.

Police said the four victims were inside a stolen Kia around 1 a.m. Sunday when automatic gunfire erupted from a vehicle following them on West Broadway Avenue.

Two boys and two girls between the ages of 11 and 14 were injured, and one girl who was shot in the head was brought to the hospital in critical condition. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on Monday that all of the victims were expected to survive.

“I think, in a lot of ways, we are failing to deter this activity,” O’Hara said the night of the shooting. “Two of the five juveniles involved in this incident were arrested not even two weeks ago for being in a stolen car.”

Yeah.

I'm trying to imagine getting car-jacked by a 10 year old and it just keeps getting funnier.

Well, he's 10 now, but it sounds like that was a prior incident, so I suppose he could have been younger at that point.

Honestly, concerns over the possibility that religion might be a political opponent and trying to neutralize it by replacing figures with one's own are not new.

It's just a little unusual to have it happening in 2024 between gods and secular leaders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism

Religious syncretism is the blending of religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation of other beliefs into an existing religious tradition.

This can occur for many reasons, where religious traditions exist in proximity to each other, or when a culture is conquered and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in eradicating older beliefs and practices.

Upon further consideration, it was decided that perhaps what Marx had meant was that certain varieties of opium were, in fact, good for the people.

Hail, ~~Mary~~ Mao, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, ~~Jesus~~ Xi.
Holy ~~Mary~~ Mao, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Hail, ~~Mary~~ Mao, full of grace...

I mean, you can probably build a house that can reliably survive the conditions there. It's just gonna be really expensive and may not look all that pretty.

It's gonna have to handle water up to a certain height and wind-blown debris smashing into it.

Like, think of a lighthouse or flak tower or something.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse

Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself. Wave-washed lighthouses are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact, such as Eddystone Lighthouse in Britain and the St. George Reef Light of California. In shallower bays, Screw-pile lighthouse ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework, such as Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. As screw piles can be disrupted by ice, steel caisson lighthouses such as Orient Point Light are used in cold climates. Orient Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light) is a blend of a screw pile light that was converted to a caisson light because of the threat of ice damage. Skeletal iron towers with screw-pile foundations were built on the Florida Reef along the Florida Keys, beginning with the Carysfort Reef Light in 1852.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower

With concrete walls up to 3.5 m (11 ft) thick, their designers considered the towers to be invulnerable to attack by the standard ordnance carried by RAF heavy bombers at the time of their construction.

The Soviets, in their assault on Berlin, found it difficult to inflict significant damage on the flak towers, even with some of the largest Soviet guns, such as the 203 mm M1931 howitzers.

After the war, the demolition of the towers was often considered not feasible and many remain to this day, with some having been converted for alternative use.

Police booked the 10-year-old into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center Thursday. According to the department, this is at least his third arrest and he is a suspect in a dozen cases ranging from "auto theft to robbery to assault with a dangerous weapon."

O'Hara said charges were also approved against the boy in an August attempted carjacking.

Precocious little urchin.

Some of this article is just summarizing the current situation, which I don't think is all that interesting.

But it does have discussion on an important perspective that I hadn't considered or read much about.

Right now, there's a lot of focus on the response to Iran's October 1st ballistic missile attack. We've talked about what Israel is likely to do, what the US supports or does not, and so forth. Most of what I've read focuses on one of three potential targets:

• IRGC facilities

• Iran's oil infrastructure

• Iran's nuclear weapons facilities

I also recall reading one (early) article that cited an anonymous US official saying that they were hoping to convince Israel to hit Iranian-linked targets outside Iran, that that might be sufficient to satisfy Israel. I haven't seen more discussion on that. Looking closely at what each party has said, that'd permit Israel to damage a bunch of things that Iran values, but also permit Iran to say that Israel hasn't crossed the line that the IRGC drew in Bagheri's statement when he threatened a larger ballistic missile attack in response to any Israeli attack on Iranian territory.

But...assuming continued escalation, that's not the end of things. I've read a few articles talking about what the end game between Israel and Hezbollah is, but not longer-term Iran-Israel.

The author is a nuclear weapons specialist focusing on the Middle East. His perspective is more "where does this go if Israel hits Iran, and then Iran hits Israel back again harder".

He stated that he didn't presently believe that Israel would likely hit Iran's nuclear weapons facilities in this strike.

What’s on the table? Israel may target military installations, such as surface-to-surface missile bases or anti-aircraft systems, or Iran’s energy sector and political regime symbols. An attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is being debated in Israel, but is not likely at the moment.

Factors being considered include the operational capability to execute such a strike effectively, the time that would be required to rebuild the facilities, expected regional reactions and the impact on Iran’s future decision to develop nuclear weapons. Additionally, the Biden administration’s opposition to attacking the nuclear sites is a consideration, particularly in view of the upcoming presidential election.

However, he also looks down the line of an escalation spiral -- if Israel hits Iran, then Iran conducts a large-scale ballistic strike against Israel in response -- as Bagheri had threatened after the earlier attack -- then the author believes that Israel hitting Iran's nuclear weapons facilities becomes more-likely:

Recently, however, there has been a possible shift in the Israeli stance — evident, for instance, in a growing public discourse on the issue. The increased attention in Israel stems partly from the unprecedented advancement of the Iranian nuclear project, the overconfidence this gives Tehran and the intensifying internal Iranian calls to acquire nuclear weapons. An underlying cause for the shift is the absence of an international mechanism to control and monitor the program and the looming expiration of the “snapback” mechanism in October 2025, which would hinder a quick reinstatement of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.

The significant weakening of Hezbollah and the reduced risk it poses to Israel in a future confrontation with Iran, coupled with the high costs Israel is already bearing in its fight against the “axis of resistance,” might be viewed by Israeli decision-makers as an opportunity to act. The trauma of Oct. 7 and the public’s increasing support for more aggressive responses against external attacks intensify belligerent Israeli sentiments towards Iran.

All eyes are now on Israel. Its response is likely to follow a military-regional logic aimed at preventing further direct attacks from Iran and isolating the various fronts of conflict. However, continued intense confrontations between the two countries, along with escalating attacks on Hezbollah, could further amplify the discourse in Tehran favoring a nuclear breakout and increase support in Jerusalem for striking the nuclear facilities. This would create a dangerous self-perpetuating cycle.

The history of the Middle East and beyond is being shaped right now. In the years to come, scholars will explore the crucial decisions facing leaders in Jerusalem, Tehran, Washington and elsewhere that today may seem like just another news update.

Like, in looking at the situation, it's worth considering actions both in the light of the action themselves, and where they'll wind up, after multiple iterations of the responses involved.