History, Politics And Current Affairs

Considering that the closest significant ground forces are about 1500 miles away from the Alpine redoubt I don't think there is any chance that Germany would build this up at all. They have MUCH higher priorities. That being said, I can also see several of the nazi party muckety mucks pulling a Das...

Ah, I see. My first reaction to the first paragraph was to actually laugh out loud. I can understand why, for purely stupid and selfish reasons, the nuclear gurus would keep the UK out of the loop, but I can't imagine the US, even in 1952, telling the UK to "Kiss off" during a full fledged...

My neighborhood (and much of my town) is a warren of narrow, twisty roads first laid out when horse and buggy were the appropriate form of transport. THe vast majority of delivery drivers are, shall we say, unfamiliar, with roads like ours. They will frequently become frustrated and dump a large num...

How did they assume that the UK was going to go it alone? I can't imagine that the US forces stationed in the UK would have sat on their hands while the UK was under attack.

Belushi TD

Question - Is the biological definition if two individuals are of different species is if they can't breed with each other? If so, and assuming that the so called "Neandertal" genes in modern humans are due to interbreeding, wouldn't that mean that Cro Magnon and Neandertal were just VERY...

With the proliferation of surveillance and security cameras these days, it was bound to happen at some point. That's the plus side of the current craze to put cameras everyone. Eventually, something that has never been recorded before will become recorded. The important thing is to make sure its not...

Agreed. Competition for lauches is always a good thing.

Why does the author of the article first bring Musk into the piece and then take a swipe at him? It seems petty to me. Is there some kind of history between SpaceX and Blue Origins I'm not aware of?

Belushi TD

It is my understanding that Neandertals would have needed significantly more resources to survive than cro magnon man, as someone else stated earlier. Is there a climate changes back around the time of their extinction? Another question - Could there have been some kind of a virus or bacteria that N...

Its my understanding they only hit the cities that were in Germany as of the 1933 borders. In some of the Conrad's Eye novels, and some of the shorts, I seem to remember that Austria got some fallout, but none of its cities were hit. None of the cities in occupied territory were hit either, with the...

Grant seems to be a most competent and active officer. His lieutenant, on the other hand, sort of seems like a sad sack. He allowed the previous Gunner to let the organization of his cordite devolve to the point where it was apparently in violation of every regulation. A very interesting essay, Crai...

Video of Starship breaking up over Turks and Caicos islands: https://x.com/adavenport354/status/1880026262254809115?s=46 That is a most impressive RUD with lots of pretty sparkles and trails. I am VERY interested in finding out exactly what went wrong. Did they intentionally pull heat tiles off thi...

Agreed. However, we also changed some names for reasons that don't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. And, everyone should keep in mind that the US Navy has NEVER stood by its naming conventions. I call your attention to USS Kearsarge, BB-5. Only battleship NOT named after a state. However, normal...

I'd be inclined to leave the names of ships already in the water alone. As for CVN-82 and CVN-83, I don't see why not. We've already broken the seal on that one when they renamed Chancellorsville (CG-62). I'm not even sure CVN-82 and CVN-83 have been authorized yet, let alone ordered, so why the he...

What the hell????? Why are there large amounts of stuff on a flight deck? That just looks like a fatal FOD problem waiting to happen. And waiting impatiently, at that.

Belushi TD

Looks like it's an effort to get a carrier named after Clinton, with a bone thrown to the R's for the second Bush. Fairly stupid, especially in the waning days of the Biden Presidency. Since the Biden Administration was perfectly happy to change names of ships in service, how hard do you think it w...

Oh, of course! One of my kid's favorite shows back in the day.

Apparently, they're doing another two seasons! Unfortunately, the voice actor who played Ferb has gained some notoriety, and is therefore unaffordable.

Belushi TD

Meap would like a word with both of you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykFttrMyaEE

The relevant part starts at 17 seconds or so. I don't know how to make it start there.

Belushi TD

Didn't Pitt the Younger basically get the boot because of the Act of Union in 1800? Maybe see if you can convince him its a step too far at this point. Maybe reducing the scale of the act of union will keep him in office and not see the Peace of Aimes allow France and Spain a respite. Of course, if ...

Die Hard isn't just a Christmas movie, its a Harry Potter Christmas Movie.

As has been kicking around on the internet for years....

John McClain and Harry Potter both run around a tower at night avoiding Alan Rickman.

Belushi TD

This one is quite fun. I really like how you're exploring various different timelines in one thread. Keeping it straight in your mind must be a bit of a task.

Belushi TD