General Jack Ripper

The Tiger I at Bovington  was captured after a glancing blow disabled the gun. I recall someone once posted a British AAR field report from a tank company(?) that had a surprising number of tanks coming in for repair of disabled guns afterwards.
Here's an interesting quote from the book "Commanding The Red Army's Sherman Tanks"
 
 

So in theory PzIV should win 2/5 times against Stuart in all circumstances because the 50mm turret front is no match for the 37mm gun, whether its hull down or not. People would be upset if that happened, I suspect. My experience with hull down most often is the first shot will go high, the second and third will impact the ground in front, then the gunner fill find the range and start plinking the turret front consistently. Except in modern war titles where you'll probably get a catastrophic first round turret front hit

There's an anecdote out of Hunnicutt's book 'Pershing' where 11th Armored was treated to a demonstration of the new tank. Three new Pershing crews were given ten rounds per tank to test the gun's accuracy. They were plinking German helmets at 625 yards range with the big gun on the far side of a small lake. Opinions of how much dispersion we should see on targets at various ranges is just that, opinions. No more or less valid than anyone else's.

Every $ they make ups the chance of more game development for us, so I'm in favor of them having more revenue sources.
Delays suck, but a lot less than not having BFC down the road.

"The violence of action is to our advantage."

"The violence of action is to our advantage."

You should copyright that, mate. 
 
LOL Thank goodness no one important monitors this thread.
There is a logical (or illogical) issue with the Chinese situation.  We all expect that the real Chinese infection and death rate is far higher than they admit.  However, if they really have so few infections and deaths cos they shut down travel so quickly to avoid infection transmission, then how come there was so much infected travel allowed to foreign countries?  
The fascinating insights from roadiemullet describe a nation with very "irregular" efficiencies.  Re his examples of dealing with authorities... some of the authorities seemed to be on top of things, other had no idea what was going on.  It was almost a comforting picture of scattered incompetence. 
However, we also know that China is working as fast as it can to institute a "1984 on steroids" society in which everyone is monitored and AI can figure out what you may be thinking/intending from facial recognition.  Your "Social Capital" - based on whether you conform and don't complain - an abominable corruption of social media, will decide if you can buy a plane or train ticket, can travel period, can even get a job...  
Then you look at China's aggressive militaristic expansion to take over the undersea oilfields all the way down to Indonesia.  Add in the annexing of Tibet and more recently making inroads across the Himalayas into Bhutan and confronting India: 
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-s-Bhutan-land-grab-aims-at-bigger-target2
Then you have the infiltration into the west's institutions (when I lived in Tempe I heard that ASU has a similar issue):
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/16/how-china-infiltrated-us-classrooms-216327
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/red-flags/11601456
One has to see the "big picture" to see what is the nature of the Chinese junta and what China is really up to.  Only then does the Pearl Harbor reference makes more sense.

It could be due to "strains" but more likely due to the population density in NYC and the fact that people there are living on top of each other. That is, many multigenerational apartments where a bedroom serves as a nursing bed for an elder. Especially a problem in Brooklyn and Queens. Some elders just want to die at home. I don't blame them. Grandma might be cured of the China virus and then pass away from a urinary infection developed in the hospital. Our elders know that going to a hospital is very risky one way or the other.  Again, if the POTUS closed travel from Europe the same day as he did China, the US would be open to a large extent and only perhaps 10 or so million would be out of work. A Recession vs a Depression. The POTUS made a bad audible at the line of scrimmage. 

Not sure what you mean. Many Universities are public and many K->12 schools are private. I think you meant all K->12 schools are teaching courses fit for all Universities and all Universities are teaching courses fit for all K->12 schools. This is just not the case. K->12 Schools in NJ taylor their daily teaching to the community and individual students they serve. 
Tell that to a student getting a Bachelor's Degree in chemical engineering who has a guaranteed 6 figure entry level job at a company like Exxon. Knowing who Voltaire is isn't going help you size a pump to efficiently and safely transfer a volatile liquid from tank A to tank B. If the engineer fails at that,  workers die and the engineer is fired. It will not even help at the company xmas party. Some of our society's most important skills are learned in STEM. Learning about Voltaire is an elective. I would never discourage anyone taking philosophy 101 as an elective to fulfill a requirement for graduation. But an engineering student might want to take additional classes in chemistry or electronics etc. with the same money. Knowing who Voltaire is does not provide any tangible advantage to STEM students or others in technical fields like medicine.
But I would 100% expect an engineering student would know who Gibbs is. However, I do not expect a newly educated voter will enter the booth thinking … gee what did Voltaire or Gibbs think about anything a century ago. 
Kevin

Steve, you might already know this if you study Sweden closely but others might not. One reason for our approach to the pandemic is not only by design, but one of necessity. Freedom of moving around may not be restricted in peacetime by law which is part of our constitution. So a declaration of a state of emergency would still not result in people being arrested for violating it. So they use strong recommendations in the hope that people will follow them. Most do. Some don't. And sure, mistakes have been made, primarily a failure to protect nursing homes and long term care facilities. In a way I think it is almost futile to compare countries in the search for "who has handled the crisis the best" or "which strategy works best". I one wants to isolate that factor/variable, there are a myriad of other factors/variables that differentiate countries from each other, and that are dynamic over time - that comparisons are never on equal terms. Furthermore, looking at daily new cases is simply a factor of how much testing is done. We lag behind and has so far mostly tested within the health care sector. In my mind the best way to measure what is going on is to compare number of daily deaths with the seasonal average, like in the WaPo article linked above in an earlier post. In Sweden the public number of deaths are (as far as possible) both in-hospital and out of hospital deaths, something many countries/regions don't. We try to validate the estimated number of Covid-19 related deaths in this fashion and it is pretty accurate. But in the end, the final evaluation of how countries have dealt with this will probably have to wait for a couple of years. And even as tragic as number of deaths are, there a many adverse effects of the pandemic that will take a heavy toll on us all. My biggest fear now is that health care workers can't go on working in these conditions much longer and start to burn out, get depressed, suffer PTSD and such. And when the health care system fails I sure hope there is a vaccine to save us.

The key question will be did a person die because of the effects of the China virus or died with it in their system from another reason. How those numbers are registered at the county level and further massaged while passing through states into the CDC is very important. I have read that hospitals are getting additional funding if they declare a patient that they care for is China virus positive regardless of the symptoms. And more money if they die in their care regardless of the symptoms. Why? Elective procedures are way down and declaring a China virus patient is a fiscal band aid. I wish to be proven wrong because this scenario is scientifically horrible. Locally in NJ, I have been told that this is happening. Not that it will bring back a life, but inaccurate classifications will not help us figure out how to handle the the next outbreak. In the end, the direct China virus deaths will have been deemed overstated because the classifications are being massaged. But it will take years to prove I am right or wrong. By that time we will be talking about another China outbreak if we don't learn from this one. 
Kevin

JK? is that you?

This one kicks off very quickly.

The Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming also was only a few days ago speaking on the BBC denying Huhan China was the source and pointing the finger at the French as the source of the infection.
He also denies there are no camps in Xinjiang holding Uighurs despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Also what was interesting was how quickly it spread from China to Iran suggesting close contacts between the two esp the Iranian higher ups who came down with Covid-19 in quick sucession.

speaking of racism against asians and stuff....
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43081218
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133558/racist-chinese-spring-festival-gala-tv-show-causes-consternation
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/15/chinas-racism-is-wrecking-its-success-in-africa/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/china-fails-to-stop-racism-against-africans-over-covid-19
https://abcnews.go.com/International/foreigners-black-people-unwelcome-parts-china-amid-covid/story?id=70182204
but its just against blacks you say.. and oh no here comes Mr Whataboutism! "Yes! It is I! Sirwhataboutery! What about American racism! you hypocrite! you just hate chinese people!"
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-japan-specialreport/special-report-why-chinas-film-makers-love-to-hate-japan-idUSBRE94O0CJ20130525
https://shanghaiist.com/2013/03/08/review_of_beijings_most_racist_restaurant/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/26/asia/china-japan-kimono-intl/index.html
---
every side does ridiculous stuff.  the Chinese government if nothing else is no victim though its citizenry is.    Thats kinda  the problem since they all know theyll disappear  if they dont say positive stuff and you cannot put anti government stuff out there.  And sure we know  there isnt going to be any revolution of students there.. because we and the students know theyd be gunned down by the PLA. Look at trump in the us.  you say theres no doubt theres support for the CCP but of course  noone knows how much. One definitely can say theres support in America for trump.  I can also tell you his supporters are a minority, just a very loud one.  Id also add hes probably one of the most hated presidents ever by far.  Yet by your logic since some Americans support him America loves trump. 
 

This one kicks off very quickly.

If I read it once or maybe a million times, China has a very long view on geopolitics. And they don't care much about their people within the context of that long view. “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." (- Guess who?) As long as the Party minimizes misery on its people so as they don't revolt, the Party will keep the long view intact.  Even if they did, the masses would be mowed down. I am not a fan of the Chinese Communist Party. Does that mean in 2020 they were aiming to tank the West's economy. Who knows. It's too early to tell. But it's not unfair to start asking questions and debating the possibility. If this was a mistake on China's part or did not come out of their labs, they will fess up and allow for a full international investigation to prove it. Otherwise they it will look bad for the PRC. I am keeping an open mind. It's a axiom in situations like this that you analyze intentions and capabilities in balance. 
Kevin

I don't know anything about that trade, but having been taken to a rural "wet market" where dogs and other non-identifiables are being BBQ'd, live animals wandering around getting slaughtered in unhygenic circumstances etc., it was easy to believe that nasty things could come out of that sort of environment.

The problem with China is that there is little data that can be independently verified.  All we have to go on is eye-witness accounts of people who have been there and more importantly an examination of the effect that China has had on the west and on the US in particular over the last 25-30 years.   
People that I worked with around 25 years ago are the ones that alerted/educated me as to what the Chinese seemed to be up to.  Since then we have had several administrations starting with Bush Sr. that have ignored the warning signs and sold out the ordinary people of the US and the west in exchange for more profits.  Many folks have been warning about China since the 90's in some official circles , but those opinions were very unpopular (and harmful to careers) due (one assumes) to the above mentioned profit motive. 
What am certain is noticed by many readers here is that (what has happened with regular frequency in the 20+ years of these BF forums) when folks are losing an argument, they resort to making their arguments into personal attacks rather than finding better arguments.  When one does that one has lost.
In any case, it's unlikely that anyone here will have their minds changed by anything anyone says.  General chat forums like this are the equivalent of a bunch of old fogies sitting around a cafe or pub expounding on their world views.  Time will tell who was correct.  Either Trump will win or lose in 7 months.  China will have to make reparations and have their economy slowed down, or they will bounce back and overtake the US in the next few years.  All we are doing here is speculating for entertainment.  
 

Yes thank you... since I have been to China and have talked with many folks there it's interesting how that "experience" and "knowledge" is dismissed cos it doesn't fit in with some peoples' "feelings" about what is the troof.  Hmm....  That criticism sounds very familiar.  Can anyone remind me who is it gets criticized for doing that...?
The fact is that unless you are in the intelligence field, nearly all the info that is accessible to normal folks that is coming out of China comes from State-controlled media and other sources.  So, one cannot believe anything that relies on that sort of Chinese data.

Done & done... Hence my comments.

Nope, they reserved a lot of emergency beds (ICUs) in germany for covid (50%) and had to sent staff home because elective surgery practically was forbidden. The covid patients never materialized. They now reduce this to 25% reservation rate for covid patients and open up hospitals for normal surgical procedures again. So these guys are spot on at least for what is happening in germany. If you look at the numbers of early tests in the country you find that in a covid hotspot area (Heinsberg) 15% of the people were positive for antibodies (were already exposed to the virus) with death rates at about 0,4%.

Anyone who watches this clip I then suggest you read the following...
(The truth is out there, imo usually not in YouTube clips...)
https://theprepared.com/blog/dr-ericksons-viral-covid-19-briefing-video-is-dangerously-wrong/
His starting point is seriously flawed...
Here’s the obvious reason why using a 12% test positivity rate to claim that 12% of Californians already have SARS-COV-2 is so dangerous. Right now, the USA and many other countries are limiting their testing only to people who show symptoms of COVID-19. Furthermore, in many parts of the country since this all began, only those with the most severe COVID-19 symptoms have been tested. We aren’t testing 100% of the population.
What Erickson does in this video is conceptually the same as sampling a communion line to figure out how many Catholics live in California. Or estimating the prevalence of alcoholism by sampling an AA meeting.
It may be hard to believe that a physician would do something so dumb, but that’s exactly what he’s up to in this clip.

For once I feel pretty good about aging.    Hey if I lived near you I'd grab you some.  We actually haven't bought toilet paper since this started.  We had a typical pack that we buy, but just lucked out in that we had just bought it when this kicked off.  I have seen TP in the market, but didn't purchase as we have enough for a bit yet and we aren't hoarders.  You need to buddy up to some of us geezers, we can be bribed.. pretty cheaply too.

Here's an example of what could be an ambiguous death. My oldest daughter is a RN at a major hospital. She was just telling me tonight she has a patient, older, who has COPD. He's had a tough time but has technically recovered from Covid-19, however, it so damaged his lungs that while he no longer has Covid, his COPD will probably now kill him. She says there is little hope for him. He'll technically die of COPD.
So far 7 floors of her hospital are converted to Covid care, new ICUs created. First she was rotated to Covid floors sometimes, then her floor was converted, and she is now being detailed to assist in the ICU. 
However, the point of this post is the good news from the trenches is that the last 3 days they have for the first time, discharged more recovered patients than admitted new ones. It's been a long haul for her and she's pretty strung out. She works 3 days of 12 hour shifts, and then 2 days off. Rinse, repeat. And I wake up at 2am worrying every night. 
But it looks like the worst for her might be..  not over yet, but tapering down... some.