Any armored fighting vehicle can be fitted with a backhoe attachment, and some are. They are used to fill Hesco bastion to protect those fire bases, and Hesco is easy to use.
The ubiquitous ISO shipping container could be dug in and left in place, then covered with earth defined by Hesco. The tents etc often arrive in ISO containers anyway.
Renting ISOs and shipping them back out of theater is a waste of money. Vanilla ISOs fill US ports (a result of the trade imbalance) and are cheap (individual units under two grand if you buy them for private use). Send them one-way, revet them, and use spray foam on the outside to prevent internal condensation.
"You might want to have a think about who's really being humiliated in this situation though. I don't think it's me."
It won't be me either. I'm thinking "eat massive amounts of kimchee" (love the stuff anyway), and slam beer the night before so I sleep well on the flight.
Between farts and sweat that combo would clear out a step-van during a Korean winter.
"But it's hard to install unless you know how to jailbreak your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. "
That was eagerly accepted when buying hardware the maker prefers to lock down. Buying such hardware is an eager endorsement (handing someone money for toys = "eager") of their business practice.
Those who don't like the view from under the queening stool have other choices.
"Social justice" conflicts with effective economic competition.
We could eat the rich, but we'd run out of rich to eat. Meanwhile, more competitive societies with proven rewards systems and reduced "social justice" would rise economically while we stagnated.
"And how about the countries the US has invaded and the DOZENS of countries where the CIA has overthrown democratically elected leaders and put puppet governments in their place?"
Minor scuffles in the overall struggle. They evoke emotions, but looked at coldly, they were sideshows. Sometimes useful, sometimes not, but all of the war effort by both sides was of a piece.
The stakes were far too great (do not forget that the main competitors had direct experience of a world war most of them didn't spend in their mothers basement) to consider the fate of minor countries.
I didn't say "deterrence" trumps everything else. Sometimes one has to USE force to obtain the desired outcome or something like it.
That all wars since WWII have been rather minor affairs argues that mutual nuclear deterrence between RATIONAL ACTORS works.
An irrational actor may not be deterred, which means the option to defeat or destroy (there is a difference) may be selected.
For example, Israel deters enemies by the "Samson option". If you are going to lose your country irrevocably to an enemy, there is no logical reason not to destroy as many of them as possible. It becomes perfectly reasonable to empty your arsenal into their military, infrastructure, and since in cultural war every enemy human is an enemy, their population centers. Your willingness to do that must exist to be a deterrent, and if that fails, you serve your co-culturalists elsewhere by your sacrifice.
"Militarily, the Sherman (and the British Churchill) were terrible mistakes."
No. They fit where heavier tanks wouldn't go, they were able to provide FIRE SUPPORT where there would otherwise have been none, and the losses were acceptable.
Panzerfaust-sized weapons could break track on any tank, and killed plenty of Axis tanks. The moral there is we should have copied them instead of the producing the weak Bazooka.
"James M. Gavin was a colonel in the 505th Parachute Infantry of the 82d Airborne Division when his troops first used bazookas in Sicily in 1943. Expressing the men's disappointment, he wrote: "As for the 82d Airborne Division, it did not get adequate antitank weapons until it began to capture the first German Panzerfausts. By the fall of 1944 we had truckloads of them. We also captured German instructions for their use, made translations, and conducted our own training with them. They were the best hand-carried antitank weapon of the war."
Slashdot Mirror
Any armored fighting vehicle can be fitted with a backhoe attachment, and some are. They are used to fill Hesco bastion to protect those fire bases, and Hesco is easy to use.
The ubiquitous ISO shipping container could be dug in and left in place, then covered with earth defined by Hesco. The tents etc often arrive in ISO containers anyway.
Renting ISOs and shipping them back out of theater is a waste of money. Vanilla ISOs fill US ports (a result of the trade imbalance) and are cheap (individual units under two grand if you buy them for private use). Send them one-way, revet them, and use spray foam on the outside to prevent internal condensation.
An "add to hosts blockfile " Firefox extension could be a useful thing.
Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
If they do it while drunk, will you respond by stern frowning and finger-wagging?
"Those who would give up essential liberty for a little ball rubbing action, deserve neither."
Submission, frottage, AND denial?
I, for one, find the idea vaguely arousing.
"You might want to have a think about who's really being humiliated in this situation though. I don't think it's me."
It won't be me either. I'm thinking "eat massive amounts of kimchee" (love the stuff anyway), and slam beer the night before so I sleep well on the flight.
Between farts and sweat that combo would clear out a step-van during a Korean winter.
"But it's hard to install unless you know how to jailbreak your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. "
That was eagerly accepted when buying hardware the maker prefers to lock down. Buying such hardware is an eager endorsement (handing someone money for toys = "eager") of their business practice.
Those who don't like the view from under the queening stool have other choices.
"Social justice" conflicts with effective economic competition.
We could eat the rich, but we'd run out of rich to eat. Meanwhile, more competitive societies with proven rewards systems and reduced "social justice" would rise economically while we stagnated.
Good thing that isn't happening....
"If you're a member of the human race, it's your problem. If you have a conscience, it's your problem."
I don't buy into Asserted Conclusions. No problem.
I'd do what I do when inspecting any questionable media or computer:
Boot one of the many convenient live Linux or PE-ish live CD/DVDs or live USB installs and have at it.
Distinguish "add-on" from the browser itself. Extensions make FF useful. No likee, no installee, no problem.
"And how about the countries the US has invaded and the DOZENS of countries where the CIA has overthrown democratically elected leaders and put puppet governments in their place?"
Minor scuffles in the overall struggle. They evoke emotions, but looked at coldly, they were sideshows. Sometimes useful, sometimes not, but all of the war effort by both sides was of a piece.
The stakes were far too great (do not forget that the main competitors had direct experience of a world war most of them didn't spend in their mothers basement) to consider the fate of minor countries.
"It's fun and you can eat the evidence!"
So is sex.
"Right now a lot of the political arguments are the equivalent of "You bad, me good."
That's DICTATED by the way the public perceive issues.
When a political tactic is effective, don't blame the tactic, blame the credulous audience who should know better.
"Man, anyone with a Model M that works in an office environment deserves a swift kick in the nuts"
Note to self:
Buy the Boss a Model M.
"Just the slashdot effect alone will likely bankrupt them."
That's horrid! Time to alert 4chan to help save them!
"A killswitch means we no longer get instantaneous information, either, should we have to use it."
Amateur Radio, the original geek hobby, still exists. Packet radio for teh (slow baud rate) win!
Regarding technology, that isn't a Troll.
Americans, by and large, are willfully ignorant of as much technology as they can avoid being coerced by necessity to understand.
A non-shooty failure mode is, I think, desirable in that situation.
That's one reason why there are plenty of spare nukes.
"Yet other countries have them."
I didn't say "deterrence" trumps everything else. Sometimes one has to USE force to obtain the desired outcome or something like it.
That all wars since WWII have been rather minor affairs argues that mutual nuclear deterrence between RATIONAL ACTORS works.
An irrational actor may not be deterred, which means the option to defeat or destroy (there is a difference) may be selected.
For example, Israel deters enemies by the "Samson option". If you are going to lose your country irrevocably to an enemy, there is
no logical reason not to destroy as many of them as possible. It becomes perfectly reasonable to empty your arsenal into their military, infrastructure, and since in cultural war every enemy human is an enemy, their population centers. Your willingness to do that must exist to be a deterrent, and if that fails, you serve your co-culturalists elsewhere by your sacrifice.
"Militarily, the Sherman (and the British Churchill) were terrible mistakes."
No. They fit where heavier tanks wouldn't go, they were able to provide FIRE SUPPORT where there would otherwise have been none, and the losses were acceptable.
Panzerfaust-sized weapons could break track on any tank, and killed plenty of Axis tanks. The moral there is we should have copied them instead of the producing the weak Bazooka.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/bazooka-1.htm
"James M. Gavin was a colonel in the 505th Parachute Infantry of the 82d Airborne Division when his troops first used bazookas in Sicily in 1943. Expressing the men's disappointment, he wrote: "As for the 82d Airborne Division, it did not get adequate antitank weapons until it began to capture the first German Panzerfausts. By the fall of 1944 we had truckloads of them. We also captured German instructions for their use, made translations, and conducted our own training with them. They were the best hand-carried antitank weapon of the war."
"anyone think it's funny that we don't allow other countries to have nukes?"
No. Power and force matter. They trump everything else.
Denial can be an effective strategy for those who don't mind the consequences of global warming and look forward to useful geopolitical outcomes.
"No more fantasies about robotic hand-jobs in the future now."
It WOULD, however, make a magnificent penis implant.
Note that Thunderbird is also available in a Portable version for Windows users.
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable
Try THAT with Outlook.