"hacking is not a way to support a family - and it will always be a hobby. As it should be, no?"
Oh, really? Tell that to Leatherface. But, I'm not sure if it was also a hobby to him... After all, the "Family Secret" ingredients in the chili won them a lot of awards in Texas. I wonder what's in K.C. Master Pieces...
So, all these diplomats sharing a "party line" of sorts... hmmm, makes me think they all (or many of them) get together to plan the next famine, war, coalition, etc. I mean, why do diplomats get immunity from a lot of potential types of prosecution for which you and I could be locked up forever? They can enter countries and not be fingerprinted, transport dubious items under diplomatic seal, employ couriers to do the more dangerous conveyance work, and you and I can't f*scking take a non-full 4oz or 3oz bottle on the plane.
Yeh, a big cabal, racket, con game I feel sometimes.
Until some kid plays Poltergeist lady with, "Don't go into the light..." or pulls a Spock with:
"They've-Locked-Onto-My-Tricoder! Brilliant in their methods."
What if the subject produces an androgynous voice. Will the machine say, "SINNER! YOU ARE *not* OF THE BODY! *LANDRU* hELP ME... LANDRU..."?, then start rocking and smoking? (Or, locking and (like the sign I saw in Shibuya in Christmas of 04), "Smorking"?)
The CD/DVD unit color clashes with your fuchsia wall. The butane and alcohol are not in planetary alignment with your bad feng shui. Do we EVEN want to know what goo is in the uncovered tupperware?
Why is that a minus? And, if the girls cling to you instead of their B/F, then until you prove yourself a problem, then maybe they like u just 'cuz their so-called b/f had that karma coming...
Drink lots of green or other herbal teas, cut the smoking, de-tox in some safe way, and smile a lot. Eat lots of kimchee, other anti-oxidants, and have regular bowel movements. Avoid fighting with the wife or wives, and avoid any work requiring your knees today. Take it easy and shake it easy.
Are US military personnel stationed there required to submit, or are they considered to be on government business?
How about sailors whose ships are making visits (not mariners, but sailors/soldiers/personnel of military units)?
If they would ID US military personnel, then they can screen them EVERY time the ship enters port. This would make it easy to weed out undercover operatives, known offenders who got off easily under the Status of Forces agreement, and so on. This way, BANNING would have TEETH.
But, also, it could pose a threat (imagined or real) to traveling police officers (not those giving seminars or making "courtesy visits", but those not clearly doing REAL government level business). Actually, they should retina scan, finger print, AND dental match ALL foreigners. Well, if they're not taking DNA or saliva or blood.
This might serve the purpose of making or encouraging idiots (from whatever nation) to be on their best behavior. Locals misbehaving is one thing. Foreigners on the other hand are more or less representative of their homes, unless they officially declare themselves stateless or repudiate their former homes. I'm saying that because in my 3-month stay there, I saw a few individual actions of US citizens (and other "westerners") doing things they shouldn't have been doing, and which could have gotten themselves hurt pretty badly:
-- illegally handing out flyers -- retrieving pachinko parlor "marbles" misplaced by other players -- walking in the streets with alcohol -- strolling around at night yelling and screaming drunk -- hawking and spitting on the streets without at least trying to hide it
Sure, locals may do these without serious repercussion, but ALL, not just some, foreigners of any country ought to at least TRY to be respectful.
"I know some 7th graders that look older than I currently do and I'm 20. Full beard and 6' height and everything."
What the hell? Did they work on farms, and get exposed to too many steroids? I mean, I have heard that some pre-teen farm girls have adult-sized breasts and even midnight shadows. Things are out of hand even more...
I have many friends of various Asian backgrounds. The ones who REALLY look young but are not under 30 are those who don't smoke, drink, or stress out heavily. I don't know about drugs, but I imagine some drugs will burn out your system, and in combination with the other 3 factors and others can mess up looks.
My housemate seems to take EXTREMELY hot showers. The water must be over 130, way hotter than I'm using. It's scalding to me. I don't know how old he is, but he's probably 45-50, but looks closer to 40.
Then, I notice that SOME of the elders on the bus and elsewhere have very dry hands or wrinkled hands, probably from hard work with their hands, or maybe gardening extensively. I notice that some of the older women, even those around 35, wear face visors and elbow-reaching gloves when driving.
Way too damn much sunlight (depends on lots of things, and maybe the latitude and exposure) will do various things to the skin, too. Even just furrowing and frowning or being angry often will extensively wrinkle the face.
But, there are BEER vending machines, too, not just cigarette machines. I wonder if the ID sensor will be set to deny beer to kids under 20, which I think is the legal age in Japan.
Troll? Now, that is by some absolutely fscking STUPID modder. All the ethical discussion around cloning and body parts today and I'm called a troll? Dipshit.
Inextricably, part of living REQUIRES dying. It is the height of selfishness and ludicrousness for some and not ALL to have life-extending capabilities. We already have over 5 billion people on THIS planet, and probably 1/2 don't get the nutrition enjoyed and taken for granted by less than 1/4 of the human population.
Consider that embracing reincarnation is a way to begin to live life in a way that will earn you merits to a better, healthier, possibly wealthier future life.
Besides, WHO -- government, corporation, religious sect -- will decide who can extend his/her life? How much money one has? How influential or criminal one is? At what point is it a RIGHT for ALL to extend their life when debilitation makes its call? Imagine if the existing population gets the right by law, and reproduction continues?
And, if you live for a comparative 15 or even 45 lifetimes, what happens with the UNUSED body parts of say, 600 million people's spares? And what if some are wealthy enough to have multiple clones and not all the parts are used?
What if some of those clones gain sentience and are liberated? Would the source/host have the right to terminate that clone? Will the state or church mandate its destruction?
This isn't so much about "playing God" (I'm Buddhist, and I tend to feel we ALL are part of a fabric of causality and that we by definition are the fabric of "God", until proven otherwise), but it's about in THIS world denying quality of life for those souls and bodies already here and being ignored, to the greater harm of humanity as a whole. This generates bad Karma.
Just DIE when your time comes. If you live nicely, eventually, you'll come back. You may even in some instances reconnect with others you had little time with. Until we equitably and in heartfelt manners change the pitiful economic models of some pitiful countries (wealthy and poor), unnecessary suffering will exist beyond minimal suffering.
Now, if the cloning is restricted to PARTS, and not whole bodies, and if therefore these "parts" are non-ambulatory, that might be a better solution. But, still, even if you can life 52 comparative generations, how long before you will be forced to give up your job so others can fill that role while it exists? If you are forced out, with no income (criminal or legal), then at what point will you decide dying at 152 is better than hanging on till 362?
Out of control body cloning might eventually lead to a "Soylent Green" scenario, I think.
Really, ethically, I think, these are still beings that should NOT be manufactured for sexual exploitation reasons. In this life, if you can't GET sex (consensually, hopefully), then existentially you probably "unearned" it in this or a previous lifetime.
It's one thing to joke about sex, and another when people get fantastical ideas of having organic clones of humans for sexual gratification. For those wanting human clones for sexual reasons, go get a real doll, or pray for a neural dream-controlling simulator, like in that Wesley Snipes movie.
Despite some negative reviews, this is a pretty good film. It's more drama than sci-fi. It HAS gadgets, some awesome stop-motion action, and the characters have depth. Unlike cold, stoic Blade Runner, Natural City actually pulls tears from the eyes due to the acting talent performance, the things happening to characters, and other reasons you might personally find.
I think one reason the USN is afraid of wildcards having nukes is for one scenario I asked of the officers on ships' on which I served:
What do you do if a nuke wrecks the flight deck. There's no need to brag about having more and bigger carriers. If I were Soviet, in a sub, and close aboard, I'd detonate a nuke to wreck the arrestor wires, the catapults and the antennae. I won't waste time trying to SINK the birdfarm.
Hell, even HE (High Explosives) would be good enough. No need for a nuke. Just penetrate the screen (that the Chinese did it is NOT the first time, nor will it be the LAST that any non-USN SSN has don so...), and deny the aloft aircraft of any nearby place land. If they lack fuel, and can't be refueled, they'll have to ditch.
Other than as floating airbases, and flag-waving mechanical arms CVNs are a MAJOR source of pride and financial drain. Amazing that countries are intimidated by CVs and CVNs.
Before I knew it was then-top secret reality, I suggested the invention of a propeller-homing torpedo, chatted on the mess decks about it, and my chief tried to tear me a new asshole. I'd ONLY been thinking "what if" mixed with Star Trek and other Sci-Fi.
I try to think OUTSIDE the box. It got me trouble or puzzled looks and comments about me being on the US' side.
It's not that I was out of the ordinary, it's that that guy before asked me how I had any position to comment about the gun. The post could go on and on (I ramble too much), and I won't lie or claim to have culled information from the GMs. I just tossed my assumptions at them and they reflected. THEIR own reactions about THEIR equipment was sort of confirmation.
I even had that conversation with the FBI, once, and whether or not the agents knew or cared, I don't know. But they had other things keeping them busy.
But, not every Sailor makes Sailor of the Month. Not every, hell, hardly ANY Sailor makes notional designs of contemporary naval ships, accounts for crew, fuel, food, numerous pieces of major equipment, and does it to scale. Hardly any Sailor attempts to design a nuclear sub based on public information, and draws a 7-bladed prop (in the 70/80's for sure) and freaks out a recruiter.
Most of my shipmates knew their jobs, and like me, they knew others jobs. When striking (studying/working) for E-3, I studied for Mess Specialist, Yeoman, Personnelman, and Store Keeper. I settled on Radioman because it was least physically demanding and least dirty, but it took a lot of my sleep time when called to service teletypes and photo copiers and perform divisional maintenance. Not every sailor, when IN a rate, goes and studies the engine plant, CIC, and other divisions above and beyond that required for ESWS. I SAT IN CIC on my free time, not just for ESWS, but to actually be versatile. The OFFICERS liked that, and the more professional of the sailors did, to, because the got to teach their job to someone aboardship but not in the job.
Not every Sailor as an E-3 pulls extra roving patrols so another sailor could bang his girl in the RASE/Deck shops. Not every sailor does that for FREE, and gets TOLD "you better start charging; you're undercutting us who DO charge." Not every sailor WITH a pistol, on roving patrol, draws his weapon to detain or discourage a recaptured redeserter from trying to re-re-redesert. I DID.
Not every Sailor gets told, "Shit, we're glad you're on OUR side, and not the Russians'." (But, I'm on MY side, at least not long after I JOINED the Nav.
Not every Sailor who joined STUDIED the Navy for YEARS in advance. Then again, not every one gets demoralized over politics and lets it get them down, as was my case.
I joined the USN to die in a submarine battle against the "Soviets" 2,000 feet under water, in the Pacific. I didn't JOIN for , dimwit bureaucrats. The national and local politics were something messing up my mental programming.
So, to SOME extent, I WAS above and beyond my average shipmate. And, I didn't kiss officer or chief ass. I got into a row with my first RMC before he retired. He brought his drunk ass back to the ship one night, and when the patch panel was acting up, he called me incompetent, cussed me out, and when he mentioned shit about writing me up, I challenged him. He took offense to that and told me, "SYES, IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW, I WILL **TRICK-FUCK** YOU SO FAST YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED." I had two witnesses and TOLD them they were my witnesses, and that incensed the chief even more. Eventually, he shut up, left me alone, and let be try to be the professional when-on-duty that I strove to be. His replacement was not even as capable as he was. But I took NO shit, to the extent I could assert myself.
And, if we can believe the USAF/DOD, recently the most of the F-15 fleet has been grounded due to "age" and hours on the airframes. Sounds like a tasty way to get more appropriations/funding for JSF, F22, B3, whatever they wet dream over...
Slashdot Mirror
"hacking is not a way to support a family - and it will always be a hobby. As it should be, no?"
Oh, really? Tell that to Leatherface. But, I'm not sure if it was also a hobby to him... After all, the "Family Secret" ingredients in the chili won them a lot of awards in Texas. I wonder what's in K.C. Master Pieces...
We learn not to drop articles OR particles... hehehhe or add enumeration or drop enumeration...
I don't GIVE a shit...
(I don't give shit)
I don't GIVE A rat's ass
(I don't give rats ass)
I didn't hear JACK SHIT from her
(I didn't hear ANY Jack Shit from her...)
I going to cut my nail
(What, just one? What about the other 9?, or 19?)
I cut my hairs....
(Oh, how many?)
At that party we ate chickens and fishes and rices?
(Oh, how many whole chickens? How many fish? How many grains of rice? Did you count?)
So, all these diplomats sharing a "party line" of sorts... hmmm, makes me think they all (or many of them) get together to plan the next famine, war, coalition, etc. I mean, why do diplomats get immunity from a lot of potential types of prosecution for which you and I could be locked up forever? They can enter countries and not be fingerprinted, transport dubious items under diplomatic seal, employ couriers to do the more dangerous conveyance work, and you and I can't f*scking take a non-full 4oz or 3oz bottle on the plane.
Yeh, a big cabal, racket, con game I feel sometimes.
So, I take it conditions are ripe for msoft to suffer from "Leopardsy" in Japan.
(If only TurboLinux didn't sign the pact with the devil. Go Apple, GO to Japan. Go Linux. Then ms will have Turbocharged Leprosy.)
PORN. I mean, REALLY. Only engineers could so carefully choose such wording relative to "Solid State Hard Drives."
Instead of buying up and copying? They BETTER not be getting patents out of this. (yeh, go ahead, mod me troll/flamebait)
Until some kid plays Poltergeist lady with, "Don't go into the light..." or pulls a Spock with:
"They've-Locked-Onto-My-Tricoder! Brilliant in their methods."
What if the subject produces an androgynous voice. Will the machine say, "SINNER! YOU ARE *not* OF THE BODY! *LANDRU* hELP ME... LANDRU..."?, then start rocking and smoking? (Or, locking and (like the sign I saw in Shibuya in Christmas of 04), "Smorking"?)
The CD/DVD unit color clashes with your fuchsia wall. The butane and alcohol are not in planetary alignment with your bad feng shui. Do we EVEN want to know what goo is in the uncovered tupperware?
Why is that a minus? And, if the girls cling to you instead of their B/F, then until you prove yourself a problem, then maybe they like u just 'cuz their so-called b/f had that karma coming...
Drink lots of green or other herbal teas, cut the smoking, de-tox in some safe way, and smile a lot. Eat lots of kimchee, other anti-oxidants, and have regular bowel movements. Avoid fighting with the wife or wives, and avoid any work requiring your knees today. Take it easy and shake it easy.
Are US military personnel stationed there required to submit, or are they considered to be on government business?
How about sailors whose ships are making visits (not mariners, but sailors/soldiers/personnel of military units)?
If they would ID US military personnel, then they can screen them EVERY time the ship enters port. This would make it easy to weed out undercover operatives, known offenders who got off easily under the Status of Forces agreement, and so on. This way, BANNING would have TEETH.
But, also, it could pose a threat (imagined or real) to traveling police officers (not those giving seminars or making "courtesy visits", but those not clearly doing REAL government level business). Actually, they should retina scan, finger print, AND dental match ALL foreigners. Well, if they're not taking DNA or saliva or blood.
This might serve the purpose of making or encouraging idiots (from whatever nation) to be on their best behavior. Locals misbehaving is one thing. Foreigners on the other hand are more or less representative of their homes, unless they officially declare themselves stateless or repudiate their former homes. I'm saying that because in my 3-month stay there, I saw a few individual actions of US citizens (and other "westerners") doing things they shouldn't have been doing, and which could have gotten themselves hurt pretty badly:
-- illegally handing out flyers
-- retrieving pachinko parlor "marbles" misplaced by other players
-- walking in the streets with alcohol
-- strolling around at night yelling and screaming drunk
-- hawking and spitting on the streets without at least trying to hide it
Sure, locals may do these without serious repercussion, but ALL, not just some, foreigners of any country ought to at least TRY to be respectful.
"I know some 7th graders that look older than I currently do and I'm 20. Full beard and 6' height and everything."
What the hell? Did they work on farms, and get exposed to too many steroids? I mean, I have heard that some pre-teen farm girls have adult-sized breasts and even midnight shadows. Things are out of hand even more...
Depends on DNA, culture, and personal habits.
I have many friends of various Asian backgrounds. The ones who REALLY look young but are not under 30 are those who don't smoke, drink, or stress out heavily. I don't know about drugs, but I imagine some drugs will burn out your system, and in combination with the other 3 factors and others can mess up looks.
My housemate seems to take EXTREMELY hot showers. The water must be over 130, way hotter than I'm using. It's scalding to me. I don't know how old he is, but he's probably 45-50, but looks closer to 40.
Then, I notice that SOME of the elders on the bus and elsewhere have very dry hands or wrinkled hands, probably from hard work with their hands, or maybe gardening extensively. I notice that some of the older women, even those around 35, wear face visors and elbow-reaching gloves when driving.
Way too damn much sunlight (depends on lots of things, and maybe the latitude and exposure) will do various things to the skin, too. Even just furrowing and frowning or being angry often will extensively wrinkle the face.
I'm sure this won't help the Panty Machines make a comeback...
http://www.snopes.com/risque/kinky/panties.asp
http://www.herroflomjapan.com/2006/09/21/the-final-word-on-used-panty-vending-machines-in-japan/
But, there are BEER vending machines, too, not just cigarette machines. I wonder if the ID sensor will be set to deny beer to kids under 20, which I think is the legal age in Japan.
http://www.geocities.jp/m_kato_clinic/mini-age-alcohol-eng-1.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2037.html
"Why do you eat people?"
"Not PEOple, BRAINS...."
"BRAINS?"
"It makes the pain go away..."
"Pain? WHAT Pain?"
"The PAIN of being DEAD..."
"HWuuh, I guess it hurts to be dead..."
"I can feel myself... rotting away..."
Troll? Now, that is by some absolutely fscking STUPID modder. All the ethical discussion around cloning and body parts today and I'm called a troll? Dipshit.
Inextricably, part of living REQUIRES dying. It is the height of selfishness and ludicrousness for some and not ALL to have life-extending capabilities. We already have over 5 billion people on THIS planet, and probably 1/2 don't get the nutrition enjoyed and taken for granted by less than 1/4 of the human population.
Consider that embracing reincarnation is a way to begin to live life in a way that will earn you merits to a better, healthier, possibly wealthier future life.
Besides, WHO -- government, corporation, religious sect -- will decide who can extend his/her life? How much money one has? How influential or criminal one is? At what point is it a RIGHT for ALL to extend their life when debilitation makes its call? Imagine if the existing population gets the right by law, and reproduction continues?
And, if you live for a comparative 15 or even 45 lifetimes, what happens with the UNUSED body parts of say, 600 million people's spares? And what if some are wealthy enough to have multiple clones and not all the parts are used?
What if some of those clones gain sentience and are liberated? Would the source/host have the right to terminate that clone? Will the state or church mandate its destruction?
This isn't so much about "playing God" (I'm Buddhist, and I tend to feel we ALL are part of a fabric of causality and that we by definition are the fabric of "God", until proven otherwise), but it's about in THIS world denying quality of life for those souls and bodies already here and being ignored, to the greater harm of humanity as a whole. This generates bad Karma.
Just DIE when your time comes. If you live nicely, eventually, you'll come back. You may even in some instances reconnect with others you had little time with. Until we equitably and in heartfelt manners change the pitiful economic models of some pitiful countries (wealthy and poor), unnecessary suffering will exist beyond minimal suffering.
Now, if the cloning is restricted to PARTS, and not whole bodies, and if therefore these "parts" are non-ambulatory, that might be a better solution. But, still, even if you can life 52 comparative generations, how long before you will be forced to give up your job so others can fill that role while it exists? If you are forced out, with no income (criminal or legal), then at what point will you decide dying at 152 is better than hanging on till 362?
Out of control body cloning might eventually lead to a "Soylent Green" scenario, I think.
And, if you digress into Spoonerisms, the one that started or woke me up to doing them was by a friend in the 7th grade when he said:
"Miss on you Pister. You aren't so MUCKING FUTCH. Why don't you go to your jack yard and BACK off?"
Really, ethically, I think, these are still beings that should NOT be manufactured for sexual exploitation reasons. In this life, if you can't GET sex (consensually, hopefully), then existentially you probably "unearned" it in this or a previous lifetime.
It's one thing to joke about sex, and another when people get fantastical ideas of having organic clones of humans for sexual gratification. For those wanting human clones for sexual reasons, go get a real doll, or pray for a neural dream-controlling simulator, like in that Wesley Snipes movie.
First:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Starrs/HUNGLOW.html
but, then:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=359841&cid=21351357
Is that so you can say, "Hey Seven of Nine, have seven of MINE!"? hehehhe
Seen "Natural City"?
Check it out:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/natural_city.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_City
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/2000-current/natural-city/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10004724-natural_city/
Despite some negative reviews, this is a pretty good film. It's more drama than sci-fi. It HAS gadgets, some awesome stop-motion action, and the characters have depth. Unlike cold, stoic Blade Runner, Natural City actually pulls tears from the eyes due to the acting talent performance, the things happening to characters, and other reasons you might personally find.
Kurom, Yoboseo-o, Sonsaengnim Roboto..
I think one reason the USN is afraid of wildcards having nukes is for one scenario I asked of the officers on ships' on which I served:
What do you do if a nuke wrecks the flight deck. There's no need to brag about having more and bigger carriers. If I were Soviet, in a sub, and close aboard, I'd detonate a nuke to wreck the arrestor wires, the catapults and the antennae. I won't waste time trying to SINK the birdfarm.
Hell, even HE (High Explosives) would be good enough. No need for a nuke. Just penetrate the screen (that the Chinese did it is NOT the first time, nor will it be the LAST that any non-USN SSN has don so...), and deny the aloft aircraft of any nearby place land. If they lack fuel, and can't be refueled, they'll have to ditch.
Other than as floating airbases, and flag-waving mechanical arms CVNs are a MAJOR source of pride and financial drain. Amazing that countries are intimidated by CVs and CVNs.
Before I knew it was then-top secret reality, I suggested the invention of a propeller-homing torpedo, chatted on the mess decks about it, and my chief tried to tear me a new asshole. I'd ONLY been thinking "what if" mixed with Star Trek and other Sci-Fi.
I try to think OUTSIDE the box. It got me trouble or puzzled looks and comments about me being on the US' side.
It's not that I was out of the ordinary, it's that that guy before asked me how I had any position to comment about the gun. The post could go on and on (I ramble too much), and I won't lie or claim to have culled information from the GMs. I just tossed my assumptions at them and they reflected. THEIR own reactions about THEIR equipment was sort of confirmation.
I even had that conversation with the FBI, once, and whether or not the agents knew or cared, I don't know. But they had other things keeping them busy.
But, not every Sailor makes Sailor of the Month. Not every, hell, hardly ANY Sailor makes notional designs of contemporary naval ships, accounts for crew, fuel, food, numerous pieces of major equipment, and does it to scale. Hardly any Sailor attempts to design a nuclear sub based on public information, and draws a 7-bladed prop (in the 70/80's for sure) and freaks out a recruiter.
Most of my shipmates knew their jobs, and like me, they knew others jobs. When striking (studying/working) for E-3, I studied for Mess Specialist, Yeoman, Personnelman, and Store Keeper. I settled on Radioman because it was least physically demanding and least dirty, but it took a lot of my sleep time when called to service teletypes and photo copiers and perform divisional maintenance. Not every sailor, when IN a rate, goes and studies the engine plant, CIC, and other divisions above and beyond that required for ESWS. I SAT IN CIC on my free time, not just for ESWS, but to actually be versatile. The OFFICERS liked that, and the more professional of the sailors did, to, because the got to teach their job to someone aboardship but not in the job.
Not every Sailor as an E-3 pulls extra roving patrols so another sailor could bang his girl in the RASE/Deck shops. Not every sailor does that for FREE, and gets TOLD "you better start charging; you're undercutting us who DO charge." Not every sailor WITH a pistol, on roving patrol, draws his weapon to detain or discourage a recaptured redeserter from trying to re-re-redesert. I DID.
Not every Sailor gets told, "Shit, we're glad you're on OUR side, and not the Russians'." (But, I'm on MY side, at least not long after I JOINED the Nav.
Not every Sailor who joined STUDIED the Navy for YEARS in advance. Then again, not every one gets demoralized over politics and lets it get them down, as was my case.
I joined the USN to die in a submarine battle against the "Soviets" 2,000 feet under water, in the Pacific. I didn't JOIN for , dimwit bureaucrats. The national and local politics were something messing up my mental programming.
So, to SOME extent, I WAS above and beyond my average shipmate. And, I didn't kiss officer or chief ass. I got into a row with my first RMC before he retired. He brought his drunk ass back to the ship one night, and when the patch panel was acting up, he called me incompetent, cussed me out, and when he mentioned shit about writing me up, I challenged him. He took offense to that and told me, "SYES, IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW, I WILL **TRICK-FUCK** YOU SO FAST YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED." I had two witnesses and TOLD them they were my witnesses, and that incensed the chief even more. Eventually, he shut up, left me alone, and let be try to be the professional when-on-duty that I strove to be. His replacement was not even as capable as he was. But I took NO shit, to the extent I could assert myself.
And, if we can believe the USAF/DOD, recently the most of the F-15 fleet has been grounded due to "age" and hours on the airframes. Sounds like a tasty way to get more appropriations/funding for JSF, F22, B3, whatever they wet dream over...