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Ed Stern

@edstern

Basic Prog Brit Woke Remoaner Centrist Dad. He/Him, Bi, ADHD, the usual. Former Splash Damage game dev. Full-Stack Narrative Designer/Game Writer available for hire: https://www.sternword.co.uk/

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Latest posts by Ed Stern @edstern

Two Wookiees attack each other. Chewie yells "NNRAOO" and the other yells "AARGH!!"

Two Wookiees attack each other. Chewie yells "NNRAOO" and the other yells "AARGH!!"

This is what every Bsky discourse fight feels like, to me:

11.03.2026 08:38 πŸ‘ 320 πŸ” 55 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 3
You've been visited by the magical duck. You don't have to do anything. He will simply give you a good day today.

A picture of a duck

You've been visited by the magical duck. You don't have to do anything. He will simply give you a good day today. A picture of a duck

Go, be magnificent.

12.03.2026 07:09 πŸ‘ 70 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The Trump regime has no idea what it’s doing hour to hour, just in case you thought there was some grand strategy in Iran

12.03.2026 00:48 πŸ‘ 1492 πŸ” 468 πŸ’¬ 43 πŸ“Œ 31
Mark Dubowitz
@mdubowitz
I’ve advocated for Iran regime change for 22 years. 

But success would be a militarily decisive victory that leaves the regime in placeβ€”but with its deadly capabilities severely degraded.

And then a phase two: maximum pressure, max support and max fracturing to bring it down.
3:55 PM Β· Mar 11, 2026
Β·
63.2K
 
Views
https://x.com/mdubowitz/status/2031821419051446699?s=20

Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz I’ve advocated for Iran regime change for 22 years. But success would be a militarily decisive victory that leaves the regime in placeβ€”but with its deadly capabilities severely degraded. And then a phase two: maximum pressure, max support and max fracturing to bring it down. 3:55 PM Β· Mar 11, 2026 Β· 63.2K Views https://x.com/mdubowitz/status/2031821419051446699?s=20

Oh no! It looks like the war isn’t going the way he masturbated to

11.03.2026 23:31 πŸ‘ 407 πŸ” 35 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 4

It is extremely difficult to construct a practical case against this position. Net Zero is now as much about patriotism as it is about climate change.

11.03.2026 23:16 πŸ‘ 1006 πŸ” 257 πŸ’¬ 28 πŸ“Œ 12

How dare you question my sanity on this, the day of my cat’s quinceaΓ±era

10.12.2023 14:14 πŸ‘ 1258 πŸ” 231 πŸ’¬ 23 πŸ“Œ 8
Preview
Over 1,200 killed in Haiti drone strikes, including 60 civilians: Report Human Rights Watch says drone strikes by Haitian forces kill over 1,200 people in and near Port-au-Prince since 2025.

Over 1200 people.

12.03.2026 00:06 πŸ‘ 105 πŸ” 79 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3

If you have even a passing interest in The Beastmaster or Krull β€” and who doesn’t? β€” you will enjoy this very much

11.03.2026 18:52 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Unit cost of PrSM Increment 1 is $2.09 million (TY$), while the median school lunch cost in SY14-15 was $3.81. Two PrSMs launched works out to about 1.1 million school lunches.

War is a ferociously expensive way to settle disputes.

07.03.2026 17:05 πŸ‘ 62 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 1
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There is basically zero chance the @iaeaorg goes commando, as it were. (10x the IAEA-UNCSOM tension in post-1991 Iraq. Disaster.) More likely is an Iraq Survey Group-like arrangement, which maybe includes some friendly former IAEA inspectors and consultants. @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social

08.03.2026 16:26 πŸ‘ 74 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 2
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This is just another example of how men will never, ever stop and ask for directions.

This joke brought to you by:

08.03.2026 22:48 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

At EOD School, my team's final test in Nuclear Ordnance Division was an ALCM W80 'crash n smash' scenario set at the Nevada Test Site. Had to put into action what we'd learned about locating and separating different nuclear materials and how much we could stack without criticality issues. Good times

08.03.2026 22:54 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

If the warhead is intact after the crash, that's a strong sign of clobbering -- the LACM was lost and, therefore, didn't make enough terrain matches to arm the warhead.

08.03.2026 22:26 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Why The Navy Should Retire TLAM-N The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, or TLAM, is named after the Tomahawk β€” a Native American axe. If you have ever seen a Western movie, the tomahawk [...]

I wrote this up in 2009 when there was a debate about whether to retire the nuclear-armed Tomahawk. One reason the Navy supported retirement was the concern of crashing nuclear-armed cruise missiles into countries like Japan and Korea.
www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/2025...

08.03.2026 22:08 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Since people are rediscovering "clobbering" of cruise missiles, let me explain: Tomahawks use "terrain contour matching" (TERCOM) to find their way to targets. For reasons, about 1-2% of Tomahawks "clobber" -- get lost and fly into the ground -- en route to target.

08.03.2026 22:06 πŸ‘ 114 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2
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Exclusive: US intelligence says Iran government is not at risk of collapse, say sources U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran's leadership is still largely intact and is not at risk of collapse any time soon after nearly two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment, according to ...

U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran's leadership is still largely intact and is not at risk of imminent collapse after nearly two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment

www.reuters.com/business/med...

12.03.2026 00:08 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 29 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3
Preview
Elon Musk seeks mistrial in Twitter lawsuit, citing β€˜animosity’ in San Francisco Former Twitter shareholders sued Musk, alleging that he intentionally sought to drive down the company’s value before his October 2022 purchase of the company.

live your life in such a way that if you’re ever on trial you’re not so universally loathed that it’s impossible to find an unbiased jury

11.03.2026 23:29 πŸ‘ 2445 πŸ” 430 πŸ’¬ 67 πŸ“Œ 23

Trump only got into Wharton after his family pulled strings and got him an interview with an official who did a "special favor" to the family. A Wharton prof later said he was "the dumbest goddamn student" he ever had.

So, yes, his admission does say a lot about how smart he is.

12.03.2026 00:09 πŸ‘ 1307 πŸ” 285 πŸ’¬ 52 πŸ“Œ 6
11.03.2026 23:52 πŸ‘ 2911 πŸ” 494 πŸ’¬ 28 πŸ“Œ 5
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I wish we didn’t have to pick up the tab for his mother’s refusal to hug him as a child.

12.03.2026 00:13 πŸ‘ 3624 πŸ” 907 πŸ’¬ 207 πŸ“Œ 51
Preview
Lessons from Ukraine for Defending Gulf Airspace from Shaheds In early March 2026, U.S. Central Command confirmed the first U.S. fatalities of the Iran conflict. A drone strike at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait killed six

Ukraine has built a layered drone defense system designed to keep working night after night. That experience carries lessons for the Middle East.

12.03.2026 00:15 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this year at gdc, the yerba buena gardens, a space where developers have congregated during the event for well over a decade, has been taken over by the conference and spends part of the day fenced off. developers are upset not just about the clunkiness of it all, but what it represents

11.03.2026 22:07 πŸ‘ 170 πŸ” 52 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

Again, this is a feature of Tomahawk route planning. Tomahawk doesn’t know where it is unless it makes a number of unique terrain matches over an ingress route that must extend for several hundred kilometers. In 2003 routes over Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran were used during strikes on Iraq.

12.03.2026 00:15 πŸ‘ 272 πŸ” 48 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 5

It is interesting to me* how this total military, geopolitical, & economic omnishambles is not being covered in the press with remotely the same fierce EPIC DISASTROUS FAILURE urgency that Joe Biden’s not 100% surgically clean withdrawal from πŸ‡¦πŸ‡« was covered πŸ€”

[*It is not remotely interesting to me]

12.03.2026 00:01 πŸ‘ 916 πŸ” 230 πŸ’¬ 20 πŸ“Œ 9

It would be so crazy if the bible had a part where Jesus raised taxes

12.03.2026 00:17 πŸ‘ 100 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

These are the stories media needs to be covering. Every time an infant dies of a refusal, tell the story. Use those words. The NYT has some of the most abysmal, sympathetic coverage of the AV movement because it can’t bring itself to offend, so we get writing implying we don’t know why it’s grownπŸ€·πŸ»β€β™€οΈ

11.03.2026 14:30 πŸ‘ 205 πŸ” 89 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 5
Price of front month WTI intraday for the last three sessions

Price of front month WTI intraday for the last three sessions

It is admittedly hilarious that crude cleaned out all the shorts Sunday night, spent three days doing nothing, and is now flying again on the news that the US is going to release one-third of what’s left in the SPR.

11.03.2026 23:56 πŸ‘ 628 πŸ” 80 πŸ’¬ 35 πŸ“Œ 18

who called it an american express credit card statement instead of an ae iou

11.03.2026 22:34 πŸ‘ 372 πŸ” 84 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 2

Apart from the sovereignty issue, that's about 22% of annual US production of Tomahawks flying past there.

This isn't a sustainable campaign.

11.03.2026 19:55 πŸ‘ 427 πŸ” 116 πŸ’¬ 14 πŸ“Œ 5

Before you is a switch, and two rails. On both rails are a bunch of train nerds.

If you throw the switch, the suspension railway will zooooom by on the lower track, and the nerds will all WOOOOOO

If you do not throw the switch, it will nyoooom up the higher track and the nerds will be all YAAAAAA

11.03.2026 23:05 πŸ‘ 227 πŸ” 51 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0