costard
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Posts posted by costard
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Yup - for some reason they figured they'd only need enclaves of monied people to ensure that they lived their lives out in comfort. Total disregard for the need for security on trade routes between enclaves - or they were being connned into believing they were paying (handsomely) for that. We devolve to a feudal society...
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Are you being sarcastic? I've never seen any AFV's smash their way through any fixed object.
No, for real.
the vehicle didn't so much smash its way through as disregard the physical objects of the buildings and walls to get to where it was wanted. Not exactly realistic, I grant you, but the half circle of dust kicked up looked dramatic. Nay, cool.
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The waiting would be so much easier if that damn pathfinding for vehicles wasn't broken by 1.10 ..... again
What broken? I've had a Stryker sit in the middle of a traffic jam [that I'd created through my my own incompetence] for two minutes, then spin its tyres out and smash its way through a wall and a couple of buildings to get to where I'd told it to go.
This is pathfinding at it's zenith!
(save game available)
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Sorry, but that bloke is a wasteful, ignorant fool. And I ought to know.
He should be drinking RedBull - "it tastes exactly like spew!" to get his caffeine.
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Good communications aren't improved by overloading them. The information stream does have to be managed and the resources required for this aren't insignificant - at the very least you're looking at increasing your manpower by a squad for a company.
So your intra-unit comms scheme has to change - the bloke at the pointy end had to know and trust his information source (as ever) which means he should be dealing with someone recognised for information management skills. A good place for the XO, perhaps? At least for analysis of raw data before promulgation of relevant, "clean" data. And all of this taking place in real time. Whew.
What hardware/software packages are the Singaporeans using? My experience with computers is that they can be relied on in the same fashion as people i.e. they are subject to Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong, in the worst possible fashion, at the worst possible time.
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Okay but a captain has an influence to the leaders. They can lead their men better over a larger distance or not when a captain is near?
No, Captain only has influence over grunts - iff the platoon leader is out of position or dead. Captain can have influence over grunts from two or more different platoons, Leiutenant only over his own platoon (plus support elements). No performance bonuses for having two or more levels of commmand.
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Sorry I was wrong on the Union recruiting bill. Speaking as an ex-union rep that sucks.
The difference abroad may well be better cars and no stupid finance deals - AND no kowtowing to unions. STrange that iis the case in socialist Europe. : )
Perhaps - I'm more inclined to look at the culture of borrowing in different countries. I'm not sure borrowing is quite as broadly used in mainland Europe as in the US, Britain and Australia; anecdotally the Swiss at least are quite conservative. And the European auto industry went through it's collapse(s) quite some time ago. There is more competition for the available market, too. Maybe look at the percentage of owner occupied dwellings vs rentals?
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Make sure you prepare that Etuipian coffee on a charcoal brazier made out of a vegetable oil jerry can. Also include sundry goats, children and other livestock wandering around the hut, the floor of which has been strewn with fresh bundles of reeds.
I can probably manage dust and flies to lend realism - I dunno about goats and reeds. Brazier - no worries. Charcoal - now there's a thing.
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That begs the question, doesn't it - What do our leaders hope to achieve by throwing money at the problems that face them? - its not like it magically fixes stuff.
Paying for labour is all very well, but if the value of that labour is predicated on the continuing growth of something that is manifestly in the throes of death - I can only say, I'm glad I learned to use a shovel and an axe.
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Off topic, sort of -
if the chinese could effectively rid their economy of corruption over say, 5 years, they'd have a growth rate of what? - 4% per year?
It would seem to be harder for the developed economies to make this sort of gain - although I wonder, given the above - but I reason that the Western, and particularly English speaking economies have deteriorated in the the degree of acceptance given to corrupt individuals, tolerance of their behaviour. On one hand it would appear that [standards] did once exist, and define to some extent the success of the English speaking economies. Regard and respect displayed throughout the populace gives a cohesiveness to the sum/product of their work, the physical manifestation of their behaviours. Being taken for granted rankles, and when this turns into open displays of contempt for value of the individual, the society loses out - this is why you have to regard your inferiors (if any) as at least on a par as regard their needs.
Regard for the stench of corruption, and the courage to front it. These have gone in the pursuit of comfort, the easy way of life. Well, that's gone for a little while, maybe the others will come back.
Where did the money go? - oil?
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Affentitten sez
Having attended more than a few Ethiopian coffee cermonies I can tell you it's a good brew! Particularly when the beans are prepared from scratch (ie. green) right there in front of you.
Thanks Aff - I maintain that Australia makes a pretty good coffee. so do the Brits. The best tea I've had o'seas was in Bordeaux. The Ethiopian Coffee Set - now I know what christmas present to buy with the money from Santa Rudd.
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We had a case here a few years ago where a female doctor had set up a brothel and bulk billed the government for the service provided (i.e. she claimed that health benefits were being provided and billed the government appropriately (yes, this is Australia, universal healthcare is the aim)).
I don't recall if the "patients" were required to contribute more than a token to the payment.
A great business model - it works for everyone except the wowsers.
In my opinion, she got it spot on: unfortunately, the taxation department couldn't see it that way.
As far as legalisation of drugs goes - Adam Smith reckoned that 6% growth was a pretty good aim point for growth in an agrarian society. These days, 3% is fantastic -if the society finds itself having to support another 3% of its productive members (say) lost to drug use, then it is going to find it difficult to provide the fundamental growth in wealth that backs up the capitalist system. Worse, children growing up in a drug taking household nexcessarily have fewer resources provided and thus fewer opportunities to climb the wealth ladder.
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The Japanese have the tea ceremony, the proper reverence to the beverage being displayed with the ancient rites of preparation (and a nubile, personable tea lady doesn't hurt any). Perhaps someone from this forum could choreograph and stage the world premiere of the Coffee Ceremony and raise the stakes a little, ejucate the peepul sort of fing.
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Extra firepower is best used to ensure you don't take 99% casualties, eh? i.e. let the arty do the killing, save your eyes and ears to direct the arty. That's the beauty of the US communications system - everyone is a FO.
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I drove for seven hours along our crappy freeways yesterday in my govt. issue Mitsubishi four wheel drive. At one point someone passed me in his huge Chevrolet and I thought: I bet he has a comfortable ride.
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This ties in nicely with the Afghan Supply thread.
If we go the way of legalisation - have NATO tender for cheap, reliable transport of the opium crop to the sea and thereby pay for the cost of running supplies for the army inland. The trucks and drivers will stay alive because it is in everyone's interest for them to do so. It also means that the opium traders are less inclined to trade for weapons because NATO now sponsors their legitimate business and can be relied upon to enforce security - a large part of the opium traders' budget is now taken care of by the state.
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As a matter of interest, what IS the plan for getting everybody out if supply deteriorates to the point where the units in country are effectively isolated?
Losing one compound full of prime movers could be seen as bad luck, two looks like carelessness.
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Nonono! For the truly glorious move, the Stag needs to now keep going, flat chat, through and between the StuGs, smiting them en passant. He scoots back across the boulevard and home for a cuppa.
Good drama here - good luck.
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Hooray!
Let us know if you're up for a PBEM - DT' a pretty good opponent, too.
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Yeah - never a better named Objective.
Heh, how about Objective Pu - the search for the dirty bomb?
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"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." Samuel Clemens
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Isn't there some sort of forum rule against posting links without providing some op-ed of your own?? :/
Oh no! More ammunition for JK! :eek:
The cost of managing labour turns out to be roughly 50% of the hourly wage (or so it is claimed - I don't see how this cost should rise as the wage rises, but there you go..): it is most probably this figure (150% of base wage) that is being quoted. So, when you are contracting your labour force, each of whom collects $28 an hour (less taxes), you charge out at $42 plus profit.
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Aah... so.
Thanks John.
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That's one hell of a pretty walrus.
What happens when the big 3 are gone?
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
Bloody hell that's scary - don't you guys have ANY competent pollies? Loved the line about "..better to let the government do it."
Free market capitalism is ok - if you're prepared to rebuild from scratch every so often. The idea of the state existing to protect the populace, though, has at its fundament the capital value of the state, the sum wealth of the populace represented as the Nation, able to be managed as a resource to counter threats to the populace. If you let this wealth deteriorate to zero, you no longer have a state. And yes, it does happen, history is littered with the carcasses of empires that failed.
So the Democratic nong quoted in the above article wants to provide for the current retiree - the one who has just lost 60% of their capital worth (if they've been sensible and worked and saved that is) and has a very, very limited opportunity to rebuild.
The market vs the individual - the market goes on, it will recover and live again. The individual won't. How to balance that equation is the onus and opus of the National leadership.