It certainly improved MY view, and I thereafter learned not to trust the lying Bible Thumpers who promoted laws against chemical pleasure.
I smoked heavily, as did my friends, for years. In the 1970s, "head shops" were common and smoking wasn't considered a problem be most folk.
I dropped it to join the military, and that took no effort ("addictive", my happy arse!). Some people smoked a bit much, but were much better off (and more agreeable socially!) then had they been drunks instead.
A joint in the evening after work is no different than a beer or several. When I was smoking, I partied at night and felt fine the next day. Beats the shit out of a hangover.
I don't smoke anymore because of the potential legal hassles, but that also leaves me free to advocate for freedom of choice.
Prohibition made the Mob massive amounts of money.
It also taught total disrespect for the law because the Volstead Act was unworthy of a free people. The laws against and campaign against marijuana are similarly the product of Puritanical nonsense and worthy of even more contempt since cannabis is vastly less socially toxic than alcohol. (Booze-related domestic violence is common, while weed-related violence is quite rare even with tens of millions of smokers in the US alone.)
By "buildings" they obviously mean purpose-built specialty structures. ISO shipping container-format building modules would be one example.
The thing could be a handy industrial hauler, but using it would have to be a better deal than just schlepping the parts fairly close than airlifting them with ordinary heavy-lift helos.
There is also the "eggs in one basket" issue. Losing a small load in the crash of an expendable helicopter is no big deal.
The following post is obviously a work of speculative fiction and utter falsehood.
There is another option, but it involves a bit of self-sacrifice Joe Stack-style. A hypothetical protagonist might:
Remove device, attach to IED, place at remote location with appropriate redundant triggers that can't be disarmed, and wait for it to be (boom) retrieved. He might wear a second IED for when collected by the state that has written him off in the first place.
When the law stops protecting you, and you don't mind the cost (negating the legal deterrence model), you are free to do anything you have the power to do in reprisal. Anything...
We rebuild tanks ALL THE TIME. It's called "reset", and the tanks are COMPLETELY torn down and upgraded during reassembly.
Streamlining retrofit and modification into vehicle reset is perfectly normal, as are powerpack upgrades. We don't build new Abrams hulls and haven't for years. The existing hulls are modified and kitted as required.
"If you need the fuel, don't bother with trying to get it in overland. Fly it in. ie. quit screwing around and do the job right."
Eats FAR too many sorties from a limited airlift fleets. Not more cost effective than trucking, even counting burned trucks and dead (contract foreign national) drivers.
"You mean, blame the people that voted for the gov't that set up the no-win situation."
It wouldn't be a no-win for me, since I'd PAY MY FUCKING BILL. Some folks exist to be examples to others. Now idiot boy can dig through the ashes of what he was too lazy to protect.
You can do all that as a part of ordinary reset, where the tanks are torn down completely, stripped of coatings, and reassembled with upgraded components. The infrastructure and logistics to do this has been around since WWII.
The US don't build new Abrams any more. We've been resetting and modifying the hulls for years.
"to adjust our supply lines to insure that diesel fuel is always available (gas turbines are able to burn other fuels), and to adjust the M1's chassis for the extra weight of the engine"
Multi-fuel military diesels have been around for decades and are standard items. The M1 doesn't have a "chassis", it's a monocoque hull. The additional weight of a diesel powerpack isn't much compared to ordinary armor upgrades. At worst, heavier torsion bars might be required. Torsion bars are simple (tank suspensions generally are simpler than automobile suspensions!) and easily swapped out at reset since they are removed anyway.
Storage of PUBLIC data in proprietary formats will cost heavily in future migrations, by which time the PHBs who bought into the proprietary model will be long gone.
"Now, the flip side to all of this is that more powerful weapons also greatly increase the amount of damage a single nutcase can do to the rest of society."
Modern TECHNOLOGY does that, and found objects that have frightful potential aren't limited to airliners!
Slashdot Mirror
It certainly improved MY view, and I thereafter learned not to trust the lying Bible Thumpers who promoted laws against chemical pleasure.
I smoked heavily, as did my friends, for years. In the 1970s, "head shops" were common and smoking wasn't considered a problem be most folk.
I dropped it to join the military, and that took no effort ("addictive", my happy arse!). Some people smoked a bit much, but were much better off (and more agreeable socially!) then had they been drunks instead.
A joint in the evening after work is no different than a beer or several. When I was smoking, I partied at night and felt fine the next day. Beats the shit out of a hangover.
I don't smoke anymore because of the potential legal hassles, but that also leaves me free to advocate for freedom of choice.
Prohibition made the Mob massive amounts of money.
It also taught total disrespect for the law because the Volstead Act was unworthy of a free people. The laws against and campaign against marijuana are similarly the product of Puritanical nonsense and worthy of even more contempt since cannabis is vastly less socially toxic than alcohol.
(Booze-related domestic violence is common, while weed-related violence is quite rare even with tens of millions of smokers in the US alone.)
"Feh. I would rather know the ugly reality than the bland sanitized lying pablum the mainstream media would force down all our throats if they could."
That's why I rely on 4chan for news and informative commentary.
"where* do real nerds hang out these days?"
They hang out on /b/. Trust me on this.
By "buildings" they obviously mean purpose-built specialty structures. ISO shipping container-format building modules would be one example.
The thing could be a handy industrial hauler, but using it would have to be a better deal than just schlepping the parts fairly close than airlifting them with ordinary heavy-lift helos.
There is also the "eggs in one basket" issue. Losing a small load in the crash of an expendable helicopter is no big deal.
The following post is obviously a work of speculative fiction and utter falsehood.
There is another option, but it involves a bit of self-sacrifice Joe Stack-style. A hypothetical protagonist might:
Remove device, attach to IED, place at remote location with appropriate redundant triggers that can't be disarmed, and wait for it to be (boom) retrieved. He might wear a second IED for when collected by the state that has written him off in the first place.
When the law stops protecting you, and you don't mind the cost (negating the legal deterrence model), you are free to do anything you have the power to do in reprisal. Anything...
Quite like getting laid. If you never ask, you won't get the discussion going.
....giggle like a schoolgirl.
We rebuild tanks ALL THE TIME. It's called "reset", and the tanks are COMPLETELY torn down and upgraded during reassembly.
Streamlining retrofit and modification into vehicle reset is perfectly normal, as are powerpack upgrades. We don't build new Abrams hulls and haven't for years. The existing hulls are modified and kitted as required.
"If you need the fuel, don't bother with trying to get it in overland. Fly it in. ie. quit screwing around and do the job right."
Eats FAR too many sorties from a limited airlift fleets. Not more cost effective than trucking, even counting burned trucks and dead (contract foreign national) drivers.
"You mean, blame the people that voted for the gov't that set up the no-win situation."
It wouldn't be a no-win for me, since I'd PAY MY FUCKING BILL. Some folks exist to be examples to others. Now idiot boy can dig through the ashes of what he was too lazy to protect.
"They should have done what hospitals do when a ambulance shows up: you get a bill in the mail, thousands of dollars for the ambulance ride."
Another bill to ignore. People don't obey rules unless there are painful consequences for not doing that.
You can do all that as a part of ordinary reset, where the tanks are torn down completely, stripped of coatings, and reassembled with upgraded components. The infrastructure and logistics to do this has been around since WWII.
The US don't build new Abrams any more. We've been resetting and modifying the hulls for years.
"to adjust our supply lines to insure that diesel fuel is always available (gas turbines are able to burn other fuels), and to adjust the M1's chassis for the extra weight of the engine"
Multi-fuel military diesels have been around for decades and are standard items. The M1 doesn't have a "chassis", it's a monocoque hull. The additional weight of a diesel powerpack isn't much compared to ordinary armor upgrades. At worst, heavier torsion bars might be required. Torsion bars are simple (tank suspensions generally are simpler than automobile suspensions!) and easily swapped out at reset since they are removed anyway.
Detectable? Citation needed. Your fuel guage isn't accurate enough to tell you much and human operation isn't precise enough.
Dyno tests or I call bullshit.
"I sort of do - even the guilty deserve due process."
If we don't maintain due process, our odds of knowing who actually IS guilty turn to shit.
"Seems like that could be improved, why not just make being poor a crime?"
Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
"Which is why you never refuse. You simply forget it."
This is why we need destructive encryption. Enter the wrong passphrase, and the data is locked (and preferably damaged or wiped).
"Screw those pests."
Pedobear, it that you?
It's also a hopelessly poor area that will never have jobs based on anything but digging up or drilling for the stuff under it.
NO.
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=235&issue=010
Another wild guess:
Storage of PUBLIC data in proprietary formats will cost heavily in future migrations, by which time the PHBs who bought into the proprietary model will be long gone.
"Some means of dealing with helicopter gunships and tanks, though, is absolutely necessary to fight a standing army these days."
Small arms can and have torn helos up in urban combat. Tanks can't go everywhere, and IEDs are cheap and very simple to make.
Revolutionaries with any momentum would divide a standing army, making the plot even more interesting.
"Now, the flip side to all of this is that more powerful weapons also greatly increase the amount of damage a single nutcase can do to the rest of society."
Modern TECHNOLOGY does that, and found objects that have frightful potential aren't limited to airliners!
If you comply with Federal requirements, you can own (and shoot!) artillery.
It's a bit expensive, so you usually find only mortars and cannon for sale.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Browse.aspx?SearchType=0&Timeframe=0&Keywords=*&Cat=3100&Items=50
The owners are typically well-behaved, and it isn't a poor man's hobby.
"We The People."
If that definition is restricted to Scared, Old, and White, you might have a point.