Information most certainly can be owned. in fact it is often the most valuable thing to own. Just ask Gordon Gecko.
Are you actually an idiot, or do you just like to sound like one? "ask Gordon Gecko"? He's a fictional character, my friend, and from a bad movie to boot. Just because something is written in a movie script doesn't mean it's true. Information is data, collections of facts, knowledge; I challenge you to show me an example of facts, data, or knowledge that is "owned" by anyone.
Furthermore, it seems we differ on the most basic principles here. Sure the data being exchanged is harmless until implemented.
Which leads directly to the point, which is that the implementation is illegal, not the knowing. End of story.
The data is not the device. The forum is the device, a communication device built and marketted solely for the dissemination of data.
Exactly. A device like a newspaper. Or a book. Or a public streetcorner at which one speaks. These are not illegal.
In this case, it is also the vehicle for conspiracy to commit unauthorized communications interception and descrambling.
The fact that conspiracy may or may not be taking place on a public message board is irrelevant. Conspiracy is illegal. Running a public message board is not.
The data being exchanged isn't itself the problem- rather, it is the intent of the forum that is the problem.
Aha, there we go. It may seem "patently obvious" that said message board is intended to facilitate illegal activity, but the law just doesn't work that way. You say "the data isn't the problem...it is the intent of the forum"? Are you so thick as to believe that if I start a forum entitled "help me rob my bank" in order to get people to help me plan a bank robbery, but all they talk about is pokemon, then we're all still guilty of conspiracy based on the "intent" of the message forum? Think again, genius.
words like collusion and conspiracy imediately spring to mind, and for a good reason: that's what is happening at this site.
Absolutely incorrect. "Conspiracy" is the act of two or more people agreeing to commit a crime together. This is not the same thing as people talking about how one might, theoretically, commit a crime by oneself. The former is illegal. The latter is not. Show me an instance of the site owner and one or more people on the message board agreeing to work together on the commission of a single crime. It ain't there, pal.
To simplify matters, just replace 'signal' with 'credit card number'. Do things start to become clear now?
Yes, it is now abundantly clear that you are a complete moron. The two are totally incomparable. Decrypting a radio signal which is raining down on our roofs whether we want it or not costs DirecTV nothing. Don't bother with the whole "losing potential revenue" crap, because that argument requires you to prove how things would be in an alternate fucking universe that never happened. Are you really comparing that to running up charges on someone else's credit card? DirecTV doesn't get a bill from "pirates" using their signal. Hell, in Canada they can't even argue that they might have paid for it because, in Canada, they can't!
In short: 1) information cannot be owned; 2) conspiracy requires mutual agreement to commit a crime; 3) decrypting an extant signal is not theft; and 4) you are an idiot.
What we have now is called a power and money accumulation centered fascist dictatorship.
Actually, for the "fascist" part to be accurate the state would have to take over control of industry. What we have now is industry taking over control of the state, which would be more accurately termed "mercantilist".
In 1790, 5 years before the French adopted their metric system and while Louis XVI was still nominally King of France, Thomas Jefferson proposed to the US a metric system using feet, bushels, and pounds as basic units which no one, including the US, ended up actually adopting
OK, so in a purely pedantic sense, "metric systems" in general have been around for more than 200 years. That's not what we're talking about. We are talking about The Metric System, As Adopted by France After the French Revolution. You know, the gram-meter-liter one. With us now? Good.
I do get it. This already happens in the UK, it's not a problem at all. We have lots of houses which are older than the metric system (and the USA for that matter). They use imperial stuff. We have lots of new houses - they use metric. And yet I can still call a plumber and he can figure out how to fix my pipe, and my electrician is able to fix a light. Amazing.
I'm not talking about piddly little residential handyman repairs. I'm talking about large industrial installations. Like it or not, switching a tiny little country near europe (like the UK) over to metric doesn't compare to switching a huge country like the US. Nearly 60% of the UK's trading is done within the EU. That means UK manufacturing was already making most of its products metric, plus buying most of its raw materials in metric. The primary consumer of US goods is, well, the US! And our primary export consumer, Canada, still primarily uses the Imperial system despite its halfhearted attempt at conversion. Not so simple to switch under those circumstances.
If there was any will to do it you'd do it, which indicates there's no will. Which is fine, I don't give a toss what you measure your wooden houses in, but don't come over all "it's too haaaaaard" - you sound like a whinging kid.
Pfff! If it's so easy, why did the UK government have to wait until 2000 to finally make it illegal to sell anything in non-metric measure? Oh, everything except your precious pub drinks! "Oh, it's too haaaaaard to order my warm beer by the half-liter!" - guess what: y'all sound like just the same.
This is ridiculous. You don't need to change over all the pipes and wood, etc, etc... Just use the Canadian model. Technically we're a metric country. But it really depends. Go buy lumber and ask for some 2 x 5 meter sheets of particle board you'll get a confused huh? It's still sold in imperial measurements. Pipe fittings are still measured in inches, they're just sold by the kg. Go to the store and buy veggies. Sure they have the prices in Kg... if you read the fine print. The large displayed prices are still by the pound.
So what you're saying is that even in Canada, which was switched to metric by government decree, it was too hard to actually switch, so they just changed the road signs and gas pumps? This proves my point exactly.
But as far as infrastructure. Look... The U.S. Military is already metric.
Yeah, I know. Spent 4 years in the Army. I can still eyeball estimate distances with great accuracy in meters, and tell about how far I've walked in klicks (kilometers). The military is just the right kind of place to impose the metric system because it can be forced on the people using it.
U.S. Scientists use metric in there calculations. It's the general populace that isn't converted, and the conversions are relatively superficial. No.. you do not need to redo all the wiring, pipes, ballbearings, whatever... Canada certainly didn't.
errrr...from what you've indicated, Canada has really only "kinda, sorta, maybe" converted to the metric system.
Case in point. I just recently built a brand new house. ALL the measurements are imperial.. My lot is measured in yards. The house dimensions are all blue-printed in feet. I bought my top soil in cubic yards. Brand new house in a "metric" country.
Heh. Doesn't sound like y'all have converted to metric at all!
There is an UNGODLY amount of installed bass there which is already in inches
Those fish really need to get with the program.
That's what I'm saying. We have so many imperial system fish here that there's no WAY we're ever going to get the metric system pushed through. Stupid fish practically run the country.
So what if people have already paid to see the movie ? Why does watching it once, twice, or five times exonerate people from illegally copying it ?
I don't think it exonerates them; it just goes to show the absurdity of the "we lost money" argument. How many of those P2P-obtained VCD viewings would have realistically turned into ticket sales if the movie was unavailable online? The problem is, it's not a 1-to-1 conversion. It's not like people have found a way to sneak into a movie theater. People have found a way to view a substandard version in the comfort of their own home. With the price of movie tickets as high as it is, the number of people who can afford to indulge in repeat viewings of a movie is pretty low, and the number who are also willing to do so is smaller still. Essentially, I don't think "exoneration" is the issue (insert diatribe re: corps buying favorable legislation), but rather it's a question of morality. Is it really wrong to engage in activity that (while illegal) doesn't actually cause someone a measurably significant loss? Getting mad at people who watch for free and weren't going to pay anyway is like getting mad at a bum for retrieving and reading the newspaper you just threw away instead of buying one from the machine.
But all those so-so films that you tell yourself "I'll wait and rent it", can now be downloaded free-as-in-hobo at your leisure.
The only dilemma I run into is whether to pull it off P2P or hacked DirecTV PPV. It's a tough call: should I "steal" from Blockbuster or from Rupert Murdoch?
The point is the US has had 200 years and they haven't even started the process. There's nothing saying you can't run in parallel - the UK has been doing so for years. It's absurd to say you have to rip out all the imperial pipes and replace them - you just have to keep 2 sets of tools around until those old pipes get replaced naturally.
No, you really don't get it at all. As it happens, most people who have tools ALREADY have the two sets of tools. What makes switching difficult is having two sets of PARTS. It's all well and good to say "from now on all parts/raw materials will be measured using the metric system", but what does one do about, say, electrical conduit fittings? There is an UNGODLY amount of installed bass there which is already in inches and adding on to it would require a complicated system of adapters and a complete recalculation of wire capacity. Name any other construction trade and you run into the same thing. How do you add on to an inches-and-feet house with metric lumber? What size metric ducting do I buy to add to a 12-inch heating plenum? Not saying that it can't be done, but there's a lot more to it than "keep[ing] 2 sets of tools".
Unless I sign an NDA, I'm not bound by it. I am not in general bound by my employer's legal obligations.
Not "in general", but when it comes to keeping trade secrets in particular, you probably are.
Again, one is not required to keep trade secrets secret unless one has signed a contract (NDA) to that effect. If what you mean by "you probably are" is that many employers include some sort of NDA in their employment contract then the obvious answer is YES. I don't understand if you're disagreeing here or not.
You have no evidence of any wrong doing, none what so ever. You don't even claim any; just guilt by association. You are even scared that the President can be a friends with a senator. Shocking, that is!
Heh. I love conspiracy nuts. If Bush wasn't friendly with the senator, then I'm sure he would have cited some other spurious link between them. And the no evidence thing? Why, lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working! I suspect that most conspiracy freaks are control freaks in "real life". They simply cannot accept that bad things happen because someone overlooked something, made a mistake, or just wasn't paying attention. Also, they often cannot understand any philosophical position which significantly differs from their own and write off those who hold those opinions as "idiots", "morons", "illiterates", etc. No, the idea that things happen without "rational" people in control is so abhorrent to their nature that they latch on to insane conspiracies in an attempt to soothe their insanity.
Better yet, Levi's will start selling jeans with lead-coated pockets. They'll use the line "Avoid getting mugged by wearing Levi's jeans."
Lead is only necessary to stop Superman from looking into your wallet. All you need is some sort of TEMPEST shielding. Usually, a lining of aluminum foil is plenty.
There are quite a few researchers that use Java to implement things like compilers and interpreters.
Anyway, it is done, though arguably not in a commercial context.
You have a point there. But that makes sense-- researchers are doing research, so the the last thing they want is to get bogged down in dealing with hardware or OS dependent quirks. Java is pretty good for doing that.
I got a good starter going, and it would rise the loaves nice & fluffy, but I couldn't get it to taste sour at all. am I just screwed by my regional flora, or is there a trick to getting it to sour?
I've found that my starters vary in sourness from year to year. Your basic sourdough starter is a symbiotic culture of wild yeast and wild lactobacillus. The lactobacillus is where the "sour" comes from. There are something like 3 dominant wild yeast varieties and 5 wild lactobacillus that can live with one another. Your starter will generally end up with only one of those yeasts and and one of those lactobacilli dominating. Which ones of each you end up with not only seems to vary geographically, but also it seems to change from year to year. A really sour culture, like traditional San Francisco ones, consists of a yeast that doesn't eat a particular sugar (maltose in the case of SF sourdough), and a lactobacillus that does. Sometimes you get a yeast and lactobacillus that eat the same sugars. Then it seems to be matter of which one eats faster! here's a site with some good info on sourdough. You can find a lot thru Google as well.
TCP/IP stacks & compilers written in Java? (Honest query -- does anyone really do that?)
Heck, none of the examples he listed are things anyone would do in Java. Can you imagine OpenGL implemented in Java? Sounds to me like he's parroting something he heard once and didn't understand entirely.
I could be wrong but I don't think talented white men with computers had anything to do with cracking the enigma code. Didn't we "crack" it by recovering an enigma machine from a disabled German sub?
I believe we had the encryption cracked already when they recovered that one. Getting an actual example of the machine just made it clear how it was done.
If you're going to be truly geeky about baking, your tools are an oven and a bread pan. You have to get the kneading right, and let it rise for long enough, and it's rather challenging, all told. In other words, it's the perfect geek activity.:)
And if you're a Real Bread Geek(tm), you don't use that crappy tasteless freeze-dried yeast from the store. No, real bread geeks leave a bowl of flour and water paste out in the open to start a real live sourdough culture! You haven't had a decent bread-challenge till you've had to provide your own leavening.
Industrial goods are almost unfailingly devoid of that property; even though you can still sense the original desing and it still holds fascination.
I often look at mass-produced crap and and find myself trying to figure out how it's manufactured. I sometimes spot highly ingenious solutions that were obviously answers to the question "how can we make this cheaper/quicker/simpler?" I still don't like the crappiness of the product, but I can at least admire the skill of the engineer who found a way to make it work despite limitations on price-per-unit.
One thing that bugs me sometimes, though, is when I try to put a crappy piece of equipment back together and I can't seem to make it work. As I struggle with it I start to get annoyed with myself because I know there some guy working an assembly line in [China/Korea/Taiwan] who puts these same parts together at the rate off 900 per hour! GRRRR!!! What's wrong with me!
You think my post is bullshit? I really don't care what a 14yo AC who hasn't the stones to post under his real account thinks. Besides, unless you've got security clearance and NTK, I can't tell you.
Doncha' just love guys like that? Same guys who don't believe you when you tell 'em we had to import sand to fill the sand bags.
You know what bugged me the most about the "sand" there? The grit between my teeth. Wash it out... it comes back... wash again... back again... repeat until you go insane...
Kevlar/Goldflex armour is poor protection against pointed weapons like swords or ice picks.
I wouldn't call it poor protection vs. swords. You'd have to have a very thin sword, very smooth, and thrust it pretty hard to get through the standard-issue Kevlar vest. I watched a couple supply guys in the army "de-milling" a kevlar vest by bayonet-thrust. They couldn't get the M9 bayonet to go through more than a half inch. They did get an M7 to stick into the tree the vest was wrapped around, but it took them five or six tries. But an ice pick, yeah, that'll probably go right through.
I'll try not to mistake your vehicle for the enmy when I'm strafing armor lines with my A-10.
[backpedal mode]
Air Force PILOTS, partucularly Close Air Support, are clearly highly trained and those of us with the infantry think they're the best! We grunts only made fun of the ENLISTED folks in blue.
[/backpedal mode]
Seriously, though, we never did get a good answer out of any of the airmen we asked about it: what do they do for six weeks besides learn to march in formation and make their bunks? The Air Force always struck me as weird because the actual combatants are mostly officers, leaving the vast majority of enlisted airmen as simply support staff. Not to say that support staff is unimportant, but in the Army everyone is given basic infantry training because (war being what it is) it often comes down to two groups of people with small arms shooting at one another and even support troops end up in combat (as evidenced by our POWs from a Maintenance battalion). Marines? Same thing, only more so. Navy? I'm sure all Navy personnel are trained to be sailors, whatever that entails nowadays. But the Air Force enlistees? Before they're trained in their specialty, what are they?
Slashdot Mirror
Are you actually an idiot, or do you just like to sound like one? "ask Gordon Gecko"? He's a fictional character, my friend, and from a bad movie to boot. Just because something is written in a movie script doesn't mean it's true. Information is data, collections of facts, knowledge; I challenge you to show me an example of facts, data, or knowledge that is "owned" by anyone.
Furthermore, it seems we differ on the most basic principles here. Sure the data being exchanged is harmless until implemented.
Which leads directly to the point, which is that the implementation is illegal, not the knowing. End of story.
The data is not the device. The forum is the device, a communication device built and marketted solely for the dissemination of data.
Exactly. A device like a newspaper. Or a book. Or a public streetcorner at which one speaks. These are not illegal.
In this case, it is also the vehicle for conspiracy to commit unauthorized communications interception and descrambling.
The fact that conspiracy may or may not be taking place on a public message board is irrelevant. Conspiracy is illegal. Running a public message board is not.
The data being exchanged isn't itself the problem- rather, it is the intent of the forum that is the problem.
Aha, there we go. It may seem "patently obvious" that said message board is intended to facilitate illegal activity, but the law just doesn't work that way. You say "the data isn't the problem...it is the intent of the forum"? Are you so thick as to believe that if I start a forum entitled "help me rob my bank" in order to get people to help me plan a bank robbery, but all they talk about is pokemon, then we're all still guilty of conspiracy based on the "intent" of the message forum? Think again, genius.
words like collusion and conspiracy imediately spring to mind, and for a good reason: that's what is happening at this site.
Absolutely incorrect. "Conspiracy" is the act of two or more people agreeing to commit a crime together. This is not the same thing as people talking about how one might, theoretically, commit a crime by oneself. The former is illegal. The latter is not. Show me an instance of the site owner and one or more people on the message board agreeing to work together on the commission of a single crime. It ain't there, pal.
To simplify matters, just replace 'signal' with 'credit card number'. Do things start to become clear now?
Yes, it is now abundantly clear that you are a complete moron. The two are totally incomparable. Decrypting a radio signal which is raining down on our roofs whether we want it or not costs DirecTV nothing. Don't bother with the whole "losing potential revenue" crap, because that argument requires you to prove how things would be in an alternate fucking universe that never happened. Are you really comparing that to running up charges on someone else's credit card? DirecTV doesn't get a bill from "pirates" using their signal. Hell, in Canada they can't even argue that they might have paid for it because, in Canada, they can't!
In short: 1) information cannot be owned; 2) conspiracy requires mutual agreement to commit a crime; 3) decrypting an extant signal is not theft; and 4) you are an idiot.
Actually, IBM holds the patent. They also hold the trademark on "Trackpoint".
Actually, for the "fascist" part to be accurate the state would have to take over control of industry. What we have now is industry taking over control of the state, which would be more accurately termed "mercantilist".
OK, so in a purely pedantic sense, "metric systems" in general have been around for more than 200 years. That's not what we're talking about. We are talking about The Metric System, As Adopted by France After the French Revolution. You know, the gram-meter-liter one. With us now? Good.
I'm not talking about piddly little residential handyman repairs. I'm talking about large industrial installations. Like it or not, switching a tiny little country near europe (like the UK) over to metric doesn't compare to switching a huge country like the US. Nearly 60% of the UK's trading is done within the EU. That means UK manufacturing was already making most of its products metric, plus buying most of its raw materials in metric. The primary consumer of US goods is, well, the US! And our primary export consumer, Canada, still primarily uses the Imperial system despite its halfhearted attempt at conversion. Not so simple to switch under those circumstances.
If there was any will to do it you'd do it, which indicates there's no will. Which is fine, I don't give a toss what you measure your wooden houses in, but don't come over all "it's too haaaaaard" - you sound like a whinging kid.
Pfff! If it's so easy, why did the UK government have to wait until 2000 to finally make it illegal to sell anything in non-metric measure? Oh, everything except your precious pub drinks! "Oh, it's too haaaaaard to order my warm beer by the half-liter!" - guess what: y'all sound like just the same.
So what you're saying is that even in Canada, which was switched to metric by government decree, it was too hard to actually switch, so they just changed the road signs and gas pumps? This proves my point exactly.
But as far as infrastructure. Look... The U.S. Military is already metric.
Yeah, I know. Spent 4 years in the Army. I can still eyeball estimate distances with great accuracy in meters, and tell about how far I've walked in klicks (kilometers). The military is just the right kind of place to impose the metric system because it can be forced on the people using it.
U.S. Scientists use metric in there calculations. It's the general populace that isn't converted, and the conversions are relatively superficial. No.. you do not need to redo all the wiring, pipes, ballbearings, whatever... Canada certainly didn't.
errrr...from what you've indicated, Canada has really only "kinda, sorta, maybe" converted to the metric system.
Case in point. I just recently built a brand new house. ALL the measurements are imperial.. My lot is measured in yards. The house dimensions are all blue-printed in feet. I bought my top soil in cubic yards. Brand new house in a "metric" country.
Heh. Doesn't sound like y'all have converted to metric at all!
Those fish really need to get with the program.
That's what I'm saying. We have so many imperial system fish here that there's no WAY we're ever going to get the metric system pushed through. Stupid fish practically run the country.
I don't think it exonerates them; it just goes to show the absurdity of the "we lost money" argument. How many of those P2P-obtained VCD viewings would have realistically turned into ticket sales if the movie was unavailable online? The problem is, it's not a 1-to-1 conversion. It's not like people have found a way to sneak into a movie theater. People have found a way to view a substandard version in the comfort of their own home. With the price of movie tickets as high as it is, the number of people who can afford to indulge in repeat viewings of a movie is pretty low, and the number who are also willing to do so is smaller still. Essentially, I don't think "exoneration" is the issue (insert diatribe re: corps buying favorable legislation), but rather it's a question of morality. Is it really wrong to engage in activity that (while illegal) doesn't actually cause someone a measurably significant loss? Getting mad at people who watch for free and weren't going to pay anyway is like getting mad at a bum for retrieving and reading the newspaper you just threw away instead of buying one from the machine.
The only dilemma I run into is whether to pull it off P2P or hacked DirecTV PPV. It's a tough call: should I "steal" from Blockbuster or from Rupert Murdoch?
As the poster below me said, you are quite wrong.
The point is the US has had 200 years and they haven't even started the process. There's nothing saying you can't run in parallel - the UK has been doing so for years. It's absurd to say you have to rip out all the imperial pipes and replace them - you just have to keep 2 sets of tools around until those old pipes get replaced naturally.
No, you really don't get it at all. As it happens, most people who have tools ALREADY have the two sets of tools. What makes switching difficult is having two sets of PARTS. It's all well and good to say "from now on all parts/raw materials will be measured using the metric system", but what does one do about, say, electrical conduit fittings? There is an UNGODLY amount of installed bass there which is already in inches and adding on to it would require a complicated system of adapters and a complete recalculation of wire capacity. Name any other construction trade and you run into the same thing. How do you add on to an inches-and-feet house with metric lumber? What size metric ducting do I buy to add to a 12-inch heating plenum? Not saying that it can't be done, but there's a lot more to it than "keep[ing] 2 sets of tools".
Not "in general", but when it comes to keeping trade secrets in particular, you probably are.
Again, one is not required to keep trade secrets secret unless one has signed a contract (NDA) to that effect. If what you mean by "you probably are" is that many employers include some sort of NDA in their employment contract then the obvious answer is YES. I don't understand if you're disagreeing here or not.
Someone left their parrot in here. Will someone PLEASE claim their parrot! All it ever does is shout the party line.
Heh. I love conspiracy nuts. If Bush wasn't friendly with the senator, then I'm sure he would have cited some other spurious link between them. And the no evidence thing? Why, lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working! I suspect that most conspiracy freaks are control freaks in "real life". They simply cannot accept that bad things happen because someone overlooked something, made a mistake, or just wasn't paying attention. Also, they often cannot understand any philosophical position which significantly differs from their own and write off those who hold those opinions as "idiots", "morons", "illiterates", etc. No, the idea that things happen without "rational" people in control is so abhorrent to their nature that they latch on to insane conspiracies in an attempt to soothe their insanity.
your lamp is getting dim.
Hah! And what makes you think that this transaction log will be available to anyone besides the government?
Lead is only necessary to stop Superman from looking into your wallet. All you need is some sort of TEMPEST shielding. Usually, a lining of aluminum foil is plenty.
Anyway, it is done, though arguably not in a commercial context.
You have a point there. But that makes sense-- researchers are doing research, so the the last thing they want is to get bogged down in dealing with hardware or OS dependent quirks. Java is pretty good for doing that.
I've found that my starters vary in sourness from year to year. Your basic sourdough starter is a symbiotic culture of wild yeast and wild lactobacillus. The lactobacillus is where the "sour" comes from. There are something like 3 dominant wild yeast varieties and 5 wild lactobacillus that can live with one another. Your starter will generally end up with only one of those yeasts and and one of those lactobacilli dominating. Which ones of each you end up with not only seems to vary geographically, but also it seems to change from year to year. A really sour culture, like traditional San Francisco ones, consists of a yeast that doesn't eat a particular sugar (maltose in the case of SF sourdough), and a lactobacillus that does. Sometimes you get a yeast and lactobacillus that eat the same sugars. Then it seems to be matter of which one eats faster! here's a site with some good info on sourdough. You can find a lot thru Google as well.
Heck, none of the examples he listed are things anyone would do in Java. Can you imagine OpenGL implemented in Java? Sounds to me like he's parroting something he heard once and didn't understand entirely.
I believe we had the encryption cracked already when they recovered that one. Getting an actual example of the machine just made it clear how it was done.
And if you're a Real Bread Geek(tm), you don't use that crappy tasteless freeze-dried yeast from the store. No, real bread geeks leave a bowl of flour and water paste out in the open to start a real live sourdough culture! You haven't had a decent bread-challenge till you've had to provide your own leavening.
I often look at mass-produced crap and and find myself trying to figure out how it's manufactured. I sometimes spot highly ingenious solutions that were obviously answers to the question "how can we make this cheaper/quicker/simpler?" I still don't like the crappiness of the product, but I can at least admire the skill of the engineer who found a way to make it work despite limitations on price-per-unit.
One thing that bugs me sometimes, though, is when I try to put a crappy piece of equipment back together and I can't seem to make it work. As I struggle with it I start to get annoyed with myself because I know there some guy working an assembly line in [China/Korea/Taiwan] who puts these same parts together at the rate off 900 per hour! GRRRR!!! What's wrong with me!
Doncha' just love guys like that? Same guys who don't believe you when you tell 'em we had to import sand to fill the sand bags.
You know what bugged me the most about the "sand" there? The grit between my teeth. Wash it out... it comes back... wash again... back again... repeat until you go insane...
I wouldn't call it poor protection vs. swords. You'd have to have a very thin sword, very smooth, and thrust it pretty hard to get through the standard-issue Kevlar vest. I watched a couple supply guys in the army "de-milling" a kevlar vest by bayonet-thrust. They couldn't get the M9 bayonet to go through more than a half inch. They did get an M7 to stick into the tree the vest was wrapped around, but it took them five or six tries. But an ice pick, yeah, that'll probably go right through.
[backpedal mode]
Air Force PILOTS, partucularly Close Air Support, are clearly highly trained and those of us with the infantry think they're the best! We grunts only made fun of the ENLISTED folks in blue.
[/backpedal mode]
Seriously, though, we never did get a good answer out of any of the airmen we asked about it: what do they do for six weeks besides learn to march in formation and make their bunks? The Air Force always struck me as weird because the actual combatants are mostly officers, leaving the vast majority of enlisted airmen as simply support staff. Not to say that support staff is unimportant, but in the Army everyone is given basic infantry training because (war being what it is) it often comes down to two groups of people with small arms shooting at one another and even support troops end up in combat (as evidenced by our POWs from a Maintenance battalion). Marines? Same thing, only more so. Navy? I'm sure all Navy personnel are trained to be sailors, whatever that entails nowadays. But the Air Force enlistees? Before they're trained in their specialty, what are they?