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DDE

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Everything posted by DDE

  1. Not in the opinion of the people conducting the test. Therefore at most you're looking at negligence and willful blindness.
  2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Highwater "For science"
  3. It's not politicians, it's Acute Cerebral Politization, a disorder known to rend personal relationships and even familial ties. Politicians more or less cultivate this state, whereas scientists are rarely afflicted - but can be susceptible, usually to the detriment of their primary occupation. And I do concur that most of the cliches about "collectivism" have persisted back from the era when tying political organization to race was in the vogue.
  4. *yawn* The military got there before everyone else did, and various ASAT tests have been going on since 1964. Space never was peaceful, and as soon as there would be a sufficient motivation to see an ASAT program from start to finish (e.g. ASM-135 was triggered by the Soviet US-A/MKRTs Legenda and the way it could make aircraft carriers vulnerable) it has happened. Raison d'etat, as always, trumps all.
  5. No, I understand every word individually and yet I can't tell you what's going on.
  6. These are a bit of a problem, whereas one could just get away with torsion bars along the floor like the Landsverk everyone worldwide was copying.
  7. Nor did the developing world start this. Yuri Pasholok, World of Tanks-affiliated historian, once compiled an extensive collection of... inspirations. The Soviets were actually honest by comparison, paying both Vickers (T-26) and Christie (BT), and to give an idea of the sprit of the times, they even thought they could get FDR to approve the construction of Soviet battleships in the US with a $500,000 bribe (it's just too bad their contact had more familial ties to the Soviet leadership than he had contacts in the US Navy, and so he made off with the money). Heck, I've stumbled over a US-Chinese Jaguar tank project. Textron was literally helping them come up with an upgraded T-55 clone. There was a brief 1980s honeymoon when the West just sold China the defense tech it wanted. Combine this with leakage through places like the Persian Gulf monarchies (UAE is reputed to be a bit of a Russian laundromat for sanctioned kit) and it was trivially easy for them to catch up so long as they could localize the production of underlying high-tech components, which again is easy when everyone offloads their electronics and machinebuilding onto you.
  8. Well, let's start with the obvious. A lot of "tank drives across Russian road" footage come from one specific crossing between Uralvagonzavod on Nizhnyi Tagil, and its proving grounds. There's a traffic light. You don't want to run the red, but some people have and... well, they survived. Lighter armor tends to coexist with traffic commuters, sometimes peacefully... ...and sometimes not. Obligatory dashcam: Then there are the really unforseen outcomes: I believe the Chinese are actually far more flagrant in that regard, they just let tanks and SPGs wade through traffic. That said, the actual firing ranges seem to be moderately secure even around the densely populated Alabino, and there are always places like Ashuluk for when you need a lot of space (and sand). It's really only in the Baltics where you see the public and the warships this close, persistently. There's also Severodvinsk: But San Diego should be able to relate.
  9. No, it's hardly just you. It's a long-running ideological cliche: overestimation of the degree to which even the most off-kilter totalitarian regimes seek to restrict thought, combined with a very rosy and obsolete view of the R&D process where the results are delivered through instances of individual serendipity, not steady and methodical collective work. Observe this memorable exchange, with an amusingly loaded question and a fairly well-informed answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFCwMFWKz_o&t=6m02s
  10. "Bafflement" is the usual state for the Daily Mail, as well as The Express and other tabloids. https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/735175/vladimir-putin-killer-octopus-organism-46-b-russian-army-secret-weapon-russia No, I'm never living that one down.
  11. Oh, look, there's the Shuttle again. I'm afraid this stinks. The all-star cast - expensive all-star cast - trips my tingly feeling. If you want to satirize vapid celebrity culture, don't do it with faces already associated with the red carpet. It's almost as if they were looking to hire as many famous faces as possible as some sort of perverted Hollywood welfare project. Worse still, if they're trying to satirize pop culture icon reactions to the pandemic, or - Jeb forbid - climate change, they're really barking up the wrong tree. The problem would be misguided holier-than-thou reactions and narcissistic profittering (and the occasional contrarian), not an Idiocracy-style wall of apathy. It just so happens that those who thrive on attention won't let an opportunity for attention pass. You need to more or less accurately depict the object of your satire, otherwise it's not a direct hit but a flyby.
  12. It feels like they paid dV to make it easier on the seeker. Not unusual: the Soviets fielded co-orbital ASAT long before they began DA-ASAT experiments.
  13. For me the "arguable insanity" point usually arrives at the two-three week mark. That's judging by both one incident half a decade ago where I by choice (or laziness) spent two weeks indoors with only an XBox for company, and the early days of COVID-induced remote work. By week three I was crying on my boss's shoulder (remotely) that I don't know why we're even bothering with the current project.
  14. Come on, you need the right kind of helmet for that guy. I mean, it does allow you to see upwards.
  15. The gradual and unofficial withdrawal of Vektor's EpiVacCorona after scathing criticism by the independent medical community is a strong counterexample.
  16. My mom's explanation for using an SUV to drive from home (relatively downtown) to work (downtown).
  17. Some of USMC "gators" were previously used to fly very small observation aircraft (basically your barnstormer's Cessnas). For such aircraft, no arrestor gear is needed, and with enough headwind they effectively become a VTOL. Heck, those C-130 landings on the larger carriers? AFAIK no arrestor gear was incolved either. However, you probably want something closer to an S-3 Viking for your escort carrier to have military value, and that's pretty big. You might also have to justify the advantages of mini-flattops over seaplane carriers/flying boat tenders, at least in some theatres. The broader ConOps is also suspect: land-based ASW aircraft have tremendously greater range, whereas for close-in ASW you might have an easier time with helicopters.
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