downplay?

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on December 12, 2025, 02:29:09 PMBut during the Revolutionary War the British used standard European tactics, very rigid because they needed to fire coordinated volleys to achieve any hits at all. Ball-loaded smooth-bore muskets are crap for aimed fire. The bullet rises like a golf ball and Buddha knows where it will hit. "Kentucky riflemen" were prized for their accuracy by the US side and hated by the lobsters.

And we like the downplay how France and Spain seized the opportunity to convert our little war into a global revenge continuation of the Seven Years' War against the British Empire.

I was sitting in a café in Paris "A FEW YEARS AGO" and hear two young ladies struggling with English (they were students at Sorbonne I found out later) and one of them was almost in tears. I went over and asked them if I could help. We spent two  hours going over their problem areas. The café staff kept the coffee going for me, we were actually drawing a crowd of people trying to look like they weren't eavesdropping.

When they had to go one of them asked me a question I couldn't answer.

"Do they really teach this to children in America?"

Yeah, English is like that. American-English is worse.

Quote from: drunkenshoe on December 12, 2025, 01:16:06 AM

That's not exactly a real place, though there is Blennerhasset and Torpenhow (really rolls off the tongue, way more distinguished than simplistic names like York or Leeds, lol)

There are lots of places with the same name in multiple languages, like the Avon river.  My personal favorite is Lochmere Lake not far from me.  (Loch = scottish, Mere = old english, lake = modern english)

Quote from: Cassia on December 12, 2025, 01:52:44 PMThe worry is not about an invasion of the US. If it was, I am not so sure that the armed residents living on my semi-rural street would be effective war fighters. Especially against a trained, well-equipped military. Unlike the colonials during the 1700s, we could maybe hold out for a day or two; but most folks can barely get out of their own way and don't stock thousands of rounds of ammo under their beds.

But during the Revolutionary War the British used standard European tactics, very rigid because they needed to fire coordinated volleys to achieve any hits at all. Ball-loaded smooth-bore muskets are crap for aimed fire. The bullet rises like a golf ball and Buddha knows where it will hit. "Kentucky riflemen" were prized for their accuracy by the US side and hated by the lobsters.

Quote from: aitm on December 12, 2025, 01:25:31 PMTrump adores Putin so much that he too wants to simply take what he wants, laws be damned. Now he prances about as if he is equal to Putin in audacity and "power".
I am not worried about military actions by either China or Russia. They are after economic power. They know damn well they could never invade a country where the population has 4 times the weapons the military has. And a few of us know which end of the rifle to use.

Chinese military action could bring our economy and military to our knees. Taiwan currently manufactures 90% of the most advanced microchips. A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would cause an immediate, catastrophic disruption to the global semiconductor industry. The U.S. military relies heavily on semiconductors from Taiwan, particularly advanced chips from TSMC, for critical defense systems like F-35 fighters.

The US should be doing everything it can to bring production back here and get working close with S. Korea and Japan on a defense plan. China is watching the US do little against Putin as we dick around with Venezuela, our immigrants, and antifa.

The worry is not about an invasion of the US. If it was, I am not so sure that the armed residents living on my semi-rural street would be effective war fighters. Especially against a trained, well-equipped military. Unlike the colonials during the 1700s, we could maybe hold out for a day or two; but most folks can barely get out of their own way and don't stock thousands of rounds of ammo under their beds.

Quote from: Hydra009 on December 09, 2025, 11:52:37 AMThe water use argument:
We need to take a good long look around and ask ourselves if this is a smart and ethical use of our finite resources, for our society as a whole and not just the shareholders (radical idea in the US).

You ask much of a country where the Dunning Krueger club does not know they are in fact part of the club.

Trump adores Putin so much that he too wants to simply take what he wants, laws be damned. Now he prances about as if he is equal to Putin in audacity and "power".
I am not worried about military actions by either China or Russia. They are after economic power. They know damn well they could never invade a country where the population has 4 times the weapons the military has. And a few of us know which end of the rifle to use.

I...

I'm going to be honest.

I wasn't this kind of insight from the Nostalgia Critic.

Administration is requiring tourists to declare 5 years' worth of social media history. The international conference business is dead. Well, enjoy the descent into irrelevance as the scientific world move on.