Search found 1671 matches
- 2014-02-14 11:49pm
- Forum: History
- Topic: WWI centenary- How peace kept WWI alive
- Replies: 5
- Views: 4712
Re: WWI centenary- How peace kept WWI alive
With what, with the french army being unable to field defences and a huge chunk of the armies from the east coming back? You (and the article) are severely overstating the effect of the mutinies on the capabilities of the French Army. They were still perfectly capable of 'fielding defences' and con...
- 2013-06-30 04:19am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: NSA spied on EU
- Replies: 160
- Views: 20673
Re: NSA spied on EU
Are you fucking serious? This is what the NSA is supposed to do. Spy on other nations to gain the US an advantage. Where exactly is the cause for outrage? The part where several of the nations allegedly targeted by the NSA sent soldiers to fight and die alongside yours in Iraq, and I think I'm just...
- 2013-06-29 07:44pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: NSA spied on EU
- Replies: 160
- Views: 20673
Re: NSA spied on EU
Are you fucking serious? This is what the NSA is supposed to do. Spy on other nations to gain the US an advantage. Where exactly is the cause for outrage?
- 2013-06-26 04:05pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Deja Vu - Leadership ballot on 7PM AEST 26/6 for ALP (Aust)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2052
Re: Deja Vu - Leadership ballot on 7PM AEST 26/6 for ALP (Au
JULIAGGEDON AVERTED What a dismal day in Australia. Watching Gillard's acceptance speech you could see why she never broke through with voters - the nasal voice, the terrible turn of phrase, the clunky repetition - but also why she is a fundamentally better person than Rudd or Abbott. Her hand may h...
- 2013-06-21 06:28am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Australian Army CiC Responds To A Sex Scandal
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1391
Re: Australian Army CiC Responds To A Sex Scandal
Morrison's an awesome bloke, and I've no doubt he means what he says, but it remains to be seen the extent to which this kind of intent can reform an entire service.
- 2013-06-18 12:01am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Obama the Clueless backs the murderers of Syrian Christians
- Replies: 31
- Views: 6285
Re: Obama the Clueless backs the murderers of Syrian Christi
Wait, you mean to tell me the US is backing potentially unsavoury Sunnis against Shia in order to thwart Iranian regional ambitions? This is indeed a radical departure from the foreign policy norm. Fucking Obama!
- 2013-06-06 08:57pm
- Forum: Science Fiction
- Topic: "The Killing Star" - R-bombs and interstellar genocide
- Replies: 77
- Views: 22948
Re: "The Killing Star" - R-bombs and interstellar genocide
The idea that the Fermi Paradox exists because other species have figured it out and are hiding is pretty interesting and cool, but the rest of the premise makes some enormous assumptions about alien behaviour that are really grounded in a pretty narrow view of human history and interaction (maybe I...
- 2013-05-26 07:42pm
- Forum: Gaming, Electronics and Computers
- Topic: So, New Xbox Reveal In About 14 Hours.
- Replies: 383
- Views: 63801
Re: So, New Xbox Reveal In About 14 Hours.
Just as concerned by the change in the way content is charged for as the privacy angle TBH. It's hard to see Microsoft implementing it given (as outlined above) how marginal the One's utility as a media centre will be in the next five-ten years anyway. Stream content off an app built into the TV tha...
- 2013-05-15 07:41am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: The economist: Time for Obama to man up
- Replies: 72
- Views: 8595
Re: The economist: Time for Obama to man up
That is a valid point, but my general idea was more that it is possible for democracies to allow for a quick removal of a leader or head of government. I am not in favor of allowing parliament to dismiss a member of the cabinet per se, only the head of government/Government as a whole. Except I'm n...
- 2013-05-15 07:07am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: The economist: Time for Obama to man up
- Replies: 72
- Views: 8595
Re: The economist: Time for Obama to man up
It is more than hilarious that nearly all democracies in the world except the USA have some sort of recall mechanism or vote of no-confidence and manage to do just fine, but such a mechanism is too threatening to the home of the brave. Not sure you can seriously compare recall mechanisms and votes ...
- 2013-05-07 07:53pm
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: "It's a library as conceived by the Amazon.com generation."
- Replies: 37
- Views: 7318
Re: "It's a library as conceived by the Amazon.com generatio
My experience is the complete opposite TBH. The 'internet generation' (in Australia at least) is so conditioned to the idea that analysis/critical thinking is what's important that they totally ignore actual data and find it totally bewildering when they're assessed on their knowledge of facts. That...
- 2013-05-07 07:26pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Gamechange (HBO Original movie)
- Replies: 39
- Views: 5941
Re: Gamechange (HBO Original movie)
John McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin. No and nobody claims so in the movie. They make it quite clear that they are already losing before they pick her in the movie. The movie makes the claim that John McCain lost because of several factors, one of them being Sarah Palin. Which is a fair (...
- 2013-05-07 04:49am
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Gamechange (HBO Original movie)
- Replies: 39
- Views: 5941
Re: Gamechange (HBO Original movie)
I've only seen the last third of the movie but I thought it represented most of what is wrong with the framing of American politics. I'm sure that in a narrow sense it's accurate. But its framing of politics as a game in which Sarah Palin turned out to be TO strikes me as missing the point pretty dr...
- 2013-03-04 04:13pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Gen. Stanley McChrystal interviewed in Foreign Affairs
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2699
Re: Gen. Stanley McChrystal interviewed in Foreign Affairs
I guess fiction can be fun. He talks about how 'they' (ie the military/intelligence guys) had clearly wrong goals or attitudes and had to change and shift them - which is lovely heartwarming stuff. Too bad this feedback cycle was used to create a machine for kicking in thousands of doors to maintai...
- 2013-02-26 08:01pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Australia: Where the good life comes at a price
- Replies: 66
- Views: 9355
Re: Australia: Where the good life comes at a price
It's a hard article to respond seriously to because of how little it is representative of what is actually happening in Australia. Clearly there are structural issues in the economy that are driving high cost of living pressures, and questions need to be asked about the alternatives to the current m...
- 2013-02-19 11:42pm
- Forum: Pure Star Wars
- Topic: Dream EU casting
- Replies: 117
- Views: 15645
Re: Dream EU casting
I think we should cast Sachin Tendulkar as Thrawn. He's p. famous. Maybe have Murali cameo as Talon Karrde.
- 2013-02-19 10:36pm
- Forum: History
- Topic: Best Grand Strategy Thinkers in History
- Replies: 43
- Views: 13498
Re: Best Grand Strategy Thinkers in History
Since the OP asks about 'planning' and creating a 'geo political plan', Augustus is pretty clearly a candidate. He spent years securing the physical reality of the empire and setting in place plans and institutions that defined its future. That's the interesting part to me - to what extent does som...
Re: Skyfall
I think that was only part of it. The other part of the narrative was the loss of Empire and of old British values and coupled with the other part it works well IMO. Not what you would expect from a Bond film, but really "old Bond" has been kinda dead since the reboot. So I guess it comes...
- 2013-02-13 09:28pm
- Forum: News and Politics
- Topic: Drone pilots now more valorous than ever.
- Replies: 30
- Views: 3779
Re: Drone pilots now more valorous than ever.
WTF? What the hell is so damn "valorous" about piloting what amounts to a glorified RC aircraft? Important, yes, it's arguably that, but valorous? Again, WTF? Nothing is and the award isn't an acknowledgement of valour. All militaries have decorations for outstanding service rather than i...
Re: Skyfall
Really? That was my massive problem with it. As you said, it's about the fundamentally grubby nature of espionage, the way its inherent betrayal destroys everyone who touches it. Which would be great if its name was The Spy Who Came In From The Cold or The Honourable Schoolboy and the lead character...
- 2013-02-05 12:31am
- Forum: History
- Topic: On the Effectiveness of The Art of War
- Replies: 20
- Views: 6987
Re: On the Effectiveness of The Art of War
Half of the book is basically just Sun Tzu finding creative ways to say, "Don't be a fucking moron." In other words, it's little more than fortune cookie cliches for milwankers -only adding the words "in bed" to the end doesn't make Sun Tzu's sayings mildly amusing on dinner dat...
- 2013-01-28 11:36pm
- Forum: Pure Star Wars
- Topic: Disney to acquire Lucasfilm
- Replies: 512
- Views: 94107
Re: Disney to acquire Lucasfilm
Nonsense, Stark. It's a compelling argument she puts forward there.
- 2013-01-28 12:24am
- Forum: Pure Star Wars
- Topic: How under militarised is the Galaxy pre-clone wars?
- Replies: 65
- Views: 13380
Re: How under militarised is the Galaxy pre-clone wars?
Silly me, I should have known that Mando would come to the rescue.
- 2013-01-28 12:08am
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: WWI if Russia & US declared neutrality
- Replies: 106
- Views: 16934
Re: WWI if Russia & US declared neutrality
The French will attack. They may stop it sooner, but its going to happen. Why? You seem to be totally ignoring the way French strategy was governed by Entente strategy and in particular Russia - and more importantly, if Russia is neutral, how does France end up in conflict with Germany and Austria-...
- 2013-01-27 09:25pm
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: Government, Conspiracies And Stealing My Guns
- Replies: 12
- Views: 4330
Re: Government, Conspiracies And Stealing My Guns
Why is it that all the idiots and whackadoos that I come across think the U.S. government is complete crap and totally incompetent EXCEPT when it comes to massive conspiracies, converting the country to socialism/Communism and organizing to take guns away from citizens? I WISH our government was cr...