Mantergeistmann
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User ID: 323
Mantergeistmann
15hr ago
I wish I could find the after-action analysis -- one thing I remember is that whenever people did like western-style institutions (hospitals, for instance) the Taliban would manage to take the credit.
Mantergeistmann
17hr ago
Do you have any recommendations for gas station/convenience store/hospital cafeteria food that might be less bad? I try to meal prep and pack ahead, but it's not something I can do all the time.
Might depend on region, but sandwiches could be your best bet (if you're in Wawa territory, hoagies are the way to go)? Meat, bread, vegetables; or tuna salad? Try and go for light on the mayo/sauce? Or maybe some of the superfood smoothies as a grab & go?
Mantergeistmann
19hr ago
It's a very obvious motte/bailey, isn't it? I've seen people argue Monty Python or WWI/II British crosssdressing humour is the same thing as all modern drag shows, and if people were fine with the former, they're hypocrites to not be fine with the latter.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
For one thing, the flaming robot arms also kept smashing into things.
Why are there flaming robot arms to begin with? That seems like an... interesting decision to have in a literal ammunition factory.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
There could be some role for tube artillery as anti-ship, but I'm not familiar with options there.
It'd be incredibly useful for Taiwan during the defense, but as you said, if it drags on long enough for production and resupply, it'd be because the war has taken on a different shape wherein tube artillery is useless.
One way of looking at it: I believe the Marines are no longer interested in tanks, but are very interested in being able to get missile batteries set up on islands/launch them from the amphib assault decks. Should tell you the sort of ranges/capabilities they expect to deal with.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
That's very much my point. The US (and, indeed, any outsidde power) should have aimed to put in place a local style government with local style institutions and a local style military, but thought that all you needed to do was say "hey presto, democracy!" and everything else would fall into place. Too much idealism, not enough cynicism. Of course, the latter wouldn't have played well domestically.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Recently I think they also had a large deck drone carrier? But yeah, other than that, I think they topped out at frigate. And not even a Kriegsmarine frigate.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
The better question: is this a new development? Presumably American industrial base has always functioned this way (and, of course, nationalized industries themselves are hardly immune to graft and incompetence...)
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I'm not sure how or why we failed there.
The short version is, "we tried to build their military, institutions, and infrastructure to be like what works for America, but without actually changing any of the foundational stuff locally to make what works for America work."
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I don't remember hearing about Iran having warships worth mentioning before the war.
The 2017 ONI report is a bit out of date, but still reasonably useful. The regular Navy, IRIN (NEDAJA) is responsible for everything outside the Gulf and shares responsibility over the Strait. This is where you find the traditional vessels, this is where you find the power projection capability, this is where you find the deep water capability, and this has by its nature been pretty much completely destroyed.
There's also the IRGCN, or NEDSA. As the name implies, this is the IRGC's version of the regular Navy, and it's a bunch of whatever-the-hell. Small boats, fast boats, a few other things. Primarily used to harass/board ships and lay mines. No idea how they're doing these days, but if they'd been given a bit more time to observe and react to the Russo-Ukrainian War, I'm sure they'd have added an absolute ton of MAGUROs and similar. Seems very in line with their philosophy of small & fast swarms.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
I'm reminded of a joke about college football refs and fixing games: "If you want us to believe that they're not fixing the games, pay them enough money that it's not plausible!"
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
This does seem to be the market the SMR folks were expecting. I hope it works out for them.
As do I, but if there's one thing the green types hate more than AI data centers, it's nuclear power.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
This appears to be an appeal to formal rule-based systems.
"So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!"
"Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?"
"Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!"
"Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!"
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
How about Fellowship? Power metal with upbeat lyrics and themes.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
It's AI hate. In my experience, the anti-DC crowd try to weasel out of their position when you ask about (say) streaming video data centers, those somehow being different and fine.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
the newest of whom came here one thousand years ago
Close, but we're still 40 years shy.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
So I say hang on a second. Their country was attacked, that's for sure. And I validate their right to respond, even if I question the means by which they do so. But now they're suggesting that their ethnic and religious identity is the actual target of attack, then pushing that as grounds to take actions in countries that were otherwise uninvolved in the conflict.
I mean, all those things can be true? Their country was attacked largely because of ethnic/religious identity, and many of the attacks "on zionists" are due to ethnic/religious identity. If there were multiple Jewish-majority nations, perhaps it would be easier to distinguish, but that's not the case.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Meanwhile there's obviously people who belong to a British ethnicity (English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish) and then there's immigrants (mainly blacks, Indians, and other Europeans).
Would you classify the Angles and Saxons as British identities, or immigrant?
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Of the scores of people I spoke to, all of whom were adults, all perceived their lives to be better off thanks to a diagnosis. Every person welcome the diagnosis into their lives. But almost all had left their job, dropped out of education and lost many old friends. Several were housebound.
I saw that happen to an old university friend of mine. I don't suppose O'sullivan gives any advice for helping these people?
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
'Then it was not made, not made' – Pippin hesitated – 'by the Enemy?'
'No,' said Gandalf. 'Nor by Saruman. It is beyond his art, and beyond Sauron's too. The palantíri came from beyond Westernesse from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Fëanor himself, maybe, wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years. But there is nothing that Sauron cannot turn to evil uses. Alas for Saruman! It was his downfall, as I now perceive. Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves.
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
The killer in 'And then there were none' was
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
What about the murderer in the Christie's Orient Express?
As opposed to the killer in Christie's Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None?
At the end of the Count of Monte Christo
I'm more familiar with the space version it inspired, The Stars My Destination, where the ending is all about the antihero's desire to be purged and punished and so achieve forgiveness. But that's probably from a similar era/culture as a lot of Westerns.
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
Yeah, I think gettting less than 4 hours of sleep per day while running a daily marathon split into two parts for several months would be an implausibly superhuman achievement.
I once knew someone who only required 2-3 hours of sleep per night to function perfectly.
Of course, she was a project manager who was the sort to literally make a schedule space for "spontaneity" when on vacation, and as far as I could tell not very physically active, so I don't know if the physcial part of a body has different sleep/rest requirements than the mental.
Honestly, that would have been my preference, especially in hindsight. Go in, deliver a punitive expedition, leave after having sent the message. The nation-building and "you break it, you bought it" ideology was well-intentioned, but overly idealistic.
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