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The schooling system is designed to make you remember and believes all the things your teacher tells you, but teachers are sometimes wrong or they end up totally making something up, but it will wind up wedged into your brain. Like I had a teacher in middle school who told us about how in Vietnam they strapped bombs to babies who would go towards the soldiers, forcing the soldiers to shoot them and becoming "baby killers" that way. Which I've never seen anywhere else and sounds very silly thinking about it now.
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Dec 22, 2022 16:27
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SlothfulCobra posted:The schooling system is designed to make you remember and believes all the things your teacher tells you, but teachers are sometimes wrong or they end up totally making something up, but it will wind up wedged into your brain. Like I had a teacher in middle school who told us about how in Vietnam they strapped bombs to babies who would go towards the soldiers, forcing the soldiers to shoot them and becoming "baby killers" that way. Which I've never seen anywhere else and sounds very silly thinking about it now. I have very fond memories of my AP European history teacher in high school who liked to add harmless embellishments that even as teens we knew were bullshit. Still, he never broke kayfabe and would insist that it was certainly true that, for example, after the war Gavrilo Princip got out of jail and moved to DC to operate a hot dog cart.
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Dec 22, 2022 16:45
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Fangz posted:After googling, I can't find any trace of this Wright brothers claim, even as a kooky conspiracy theory. So I wonder where the idea even came from. There's the story about how an ex-baseball player was sent to ask Heisenberg a bunch of leading questions about nuclear physics and then shoot him if it sounded like he was on the right track. Supposedly Heisenberg got the questions wrong so the guy didn't shoot.
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Dec 22, 2022 16:55
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The only thing that stands out from my history teacher when she sushed me for pointing out that Italy wasn't a unified country yet during the time period she was talking about and she probably meant Venice/Genoa but she said "That's too complicated for the class."
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Dec 22, 2022 17:05
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sullat posted:There's the story about how an ex-baseball player was sent to ask Heisenberg a bunch of leading questions about nuclear physics and then shoot him if it sounded like he was on the right track. Supposedly Heisenberg got the questions wrong so the guy didn't shoot. That actually happened, more or less. The baseball player's name was Moe Berg: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0096340211433019
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Dec 22, 2022 17:06
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glynnenstein posted:I have very fond memories of my AP European history teacher in high school who liked to add harmless embellishments that even as teens we knew were bullshit. Still, he never broke kayfabe and would insist that it was certainly true that, for example, after the war Gavrilo Princip got out of jail and moved to DC to operate a hot dog cart. Hot dogs! Getcha hot dogs here! 
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Dec 22, 2022 17:27
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Cessna posted:So help me, that sounds like a great rpg plot. I got halfway through the drafting of GENTLEMEN! We Must Assassinate the Wright Brothers! As a hack of Honey Heist but it’s Christmas at my parents’ so the “”draft” is basically that name, a doodle of some Edward Gorey-looking guy and the rules for Honey Heist where I know I could reskin it on the fly.
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Dec 22, 2022 17:55
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glynnenstein posted:I have very fond memories of my AP European history teacher in high school who liked to add harmless embellishments that even as teens we knew were bullshit. Still, he never broke kayfabe and would insist that it was certainly true that, for example, after the war Gavrilo Princip got out of jail and moved to DC to operate a hot dog cart. Ah yes, the BLACK Hotdog stAND.
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Dec 22, 2022 18:17
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What are some examples of attempted functional in situ modifications of equipment soldiers have made that ended up wide spread? The only one I know about is dudes putting extra crap on tanks in an attempt to uparmor them.
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Dec 22, 2022 21:00
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Defenestrategy posted:What are some examples of attempted functional in situ modifications of equipment soldiers have made that ended up wide spread? The only one I know about is dudes putting extra crap on tanks in an attempt to uparmor them. Wasn’t that an active hindrance?
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Dec 22, 2022 21:03
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Defenestrategy posted:What are some examples of attempted functional in situ modifications of equipment soldiers have made that ended up wide spread? The only one I know about is dudes putting extra crap on tanks in an attempt to uparmor them. Bocage cutters made from German steel beam obstacles, the rhino tank.
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Dec 22, 2022 21:03
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Xiahou Dun posted:Wasn’t that an active hindrance? By and large, yes.
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Dec 22, 2022 21:18
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Defenestrategy posted:What are some examples of attempted functional in situ modifications of equipment soldiers have made that ended up wide spread? The only one I know about is dudes putting extra crap on tanks in an attempt to uparmor them. Not sure if this really counts, but in WW2, naval command and control and fleet coordination was evolving rapidly due to advances in stuff like radar and radio. Rather than try to predict how things would evolve, the US navy just didn't bother publishing an official command and control doctrine (including down to things like, should the radar team have a station on the bridge where the command staff is?), and told every fleet/ship to figure it out themselves. Then they sent in observers to see how everyone was doing it, and assembled the official doctrine from what folks were doing that actually worked. More closely to what you're talking about with tanks, PT boat crew would frequently attach more guns to their ships, or rocket launchers, etc. The PT boat was originally supposed to do torpedo attacks, generally of the "sneak close to enemy ships under cover of night, fire torpedoes, then light up the engines and get the gently caress out of there" variety. As the war in the Pacific progressed, that kind of attack became less common: Japan was running low on shipping to attack, and what shipping there was tended to be excessively well-protected, or was barges that have such a shallow draft that torpedoes weren't reliable targets. But there was plenty of need for close-in patrols to find dug-in Japanese bases that wouldn't be visible from the air, and then as a follow-up, bombardment of said bases. Torpedoes are also not great at hitting land-based targets [citation needed], so crews started experimenting with other weapons.
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Dec 23, 2022 00:20
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Torpedoes are also not great at hitting land-based targets [citation needed] Well, there's the video of some guys rolling naval mines down a huge hill in Bosnia(?) on YouTube, and those are supposed to be immobile.
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Dec 23, 2022 00:39
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Nenonen posted:Ah yes, the BLACK Hotdog stAND. A happier ending than the real one. Imagining a re-working of the
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Dec 23, 2022 00:40
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Not sure if this really counts, but in WW2, naval command and control and fleet coordination was evolving rapidly due to advances in stuff like radar and radio. Rather than try to predict how things would evolve, the US navy just didn't bother publishing an official command and control doctrine (including down to things like, should the radar team have a station on the bridge where the command staff is?), and told every fleet/ship to figure it out themselves. Then they sent in observers to see how everyone was doing it, and assembled the official doctrine from what folks were doing that actually worked. The first point is covered very well in Learning War, https://www.amazon.com/Learning-War-Evolution-Fighting-1898-1945-ebook/dp/B07BF86ZH2/ And for the second, PT Boats in the Pacific ended up doing more work against barges than the supply dumps on land, but that is why they carried the 5" rockets and as much other ordnance as they could get and strap on to the boat.
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Dec 23, 2022 00:45
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Torpedoes are also not great at hitting land-based targets [citation needed] Counter evidence: https://youtu.be/ro7HL-2Oln4
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Dec 23, 2022 01:17
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Re: Wright Bros. There's no way flight is instantly rejected just because the Wright Bros die That and the wrights didnt want to share their inventions so others were designing and flying their own machines regardless
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Dec 23, 2022 02:10
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Defenestrategy posted:What are some examples of attempted functional in situ modifications of equipment soldiers have made that ended up wide spread? The only one I know about is dudes putting extra crap on tanks in an attempt to uparmor them. AA machine guns on cupolas, iirc Bomb dropping gear for the corsair (usmc)
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Dec 23, 2022 02:13
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Every US veteran of Iraq/Afghanistan I've met has told me that basically every soldier removes substantial parts of their kit in order to save weight.Xiahou Dun posted:I got halfway through the drafting of GENTLEMEN! We Must Assassinate the Wright Brothers! As a hack of Honey Heist but it’s Christmas at my parents’ so the “”draft” is basically that name, a doodle of some Edward Gorey-looking guy and the rules for Honey Heist where I know I could reskin it on the fly. Better than average game design.
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Dec 23, 2022 02:25
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Jobbo_Fett posted:AA machine guns on cupolas, iirc Improvised sandbag or bed sheet covers for steel helmets when in not enough supply.
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Dec 23, 2022 04:18
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Condoms on rifle barrels to keep out the rain. (Which led to the apocryphal story of the Soviets requesting giant condoms to protect their tank barrels, so the US sent them in boxes labelled "American condoms, size small")
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Dec 23, 2022 04:25
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I think I heard a version of that story with Churchill(?) requesting extra large condoms for rifles on D-Day to scare the Germans.
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Dec 23, 2022 04:37
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SeanBeansShako posted:Improvised sandbag or bed sheet covers for steel helmets when in not enough supply. Explain that second bit, because how is a bed sheet cover gonna replace a steel helmet.
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Dec 23, 2022 07:14
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Defenestrategy posted:Explain that second bit, because how is a bed sheet cover gonna replace a steel helmet. OP means a fabric cover for the helmet, not as a replacement for the helmet itself. Like so https://www.armysurplusworld.com/us...phoC2HMQAvD_BwE
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Dec 23, 2022 07:27
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Substituting steel helmets with sandbags held in place by a string that goes under your chin is good thinking, Defenestrategy will be the Ersatz Minister one day!
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Dec 23, 2022 07:31
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Nenonen posted:Substituting steel helmets with sandbags held in place by a string that goes under your chin is good thinking, Defenestrategy will be the Ersatz Minister one day! Ersatzminister Fenstersturz von Platt is the plucky bureaucrat protagonist of my WWI alt-history novel
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Dec 23, 2022 10:12
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Obviously it was helmet covers yes. The latter being the desperate 7th Army holdovers in Stalingrad coming to mind.
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Dec 23, 2022 15:15
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Torpedoes are also not great at hitting land-based targets [citation needed], Submarine USS Bowfin destroyed a Japanese bus and heavy crane with a torpedo. Citation. The bus was parked on a pier at the time. The Bowfin claimed the victory and put it on their battle flag:  And since it's bound to come up, the French flag represents a Vichy freighter off the coast of then-Saigon.
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Dec 23, 2022 15:36
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What's the distinction between the red and white/not filled circles in the Japanese flags?
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Dec 23, 2022 17:46
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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PittTheElder posted:What's the distinction between the red and white/not filled circles in the Japanese flags? damaged vs. sunk iirc.
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Dec 23, 2022 17:51
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Cyrano4747 posted:damaged vs. sunk iirc. And that's actually not a French flag in the corner, it's a Romanian flag with the centre coloured white because it didn't sink! 
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Dec 23, 2022 17:55
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Fuschia tude posted:Ersatzminister Fenstersturz von Platt is the plucky bureaucrat protagonist of my WWI alt-history novel I'd read it. SeanBeansShako posted:Obviously it was helmet covers yes. Durp. Although the idea of a soldier going "poo poo I don't have a helmet" and fashioning some sort of ersatz protection via sandbag and some rope was somehow very believable to me.
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Dec 23, 2022 18:06
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Defenestrategy posted:I'd read it. Improvised armor, or trying to sham their way to a neck injury that gets them sent home?
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Dec 23, 2022 19:10
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 More underpants than bed sheets but whatever I wanted to reference this.
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Dec 23, 2022 19:14
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SeanBeansShako posted:
Always good. Goes Fourth is, after all, the second best Blackadder.
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Dec 23, 2022 19:34
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Does anyone have a fun dad-level history book on the wooden ships era?
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Dec 23, 2022 20:38
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"wooden ships" covers thousands of years. Age of sail? Ancient navies? what are you looking for
Jamwad Hilder fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Dec 23, 2022 |
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Dec 23, 2022 20:41
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Benagain posted:Does anyone have a fun dad-level history book on the wooden ships era? This is a pretty broad category and I'm guessing based on timing and question this is a gift suggestion request. So if your dad would like to know the stuff O'Brien by leaves out, there is: Seamanship in the Age of Sail by Harland. He's a polygot who spent a long time looking at sailing manuals and trying to put it in one book. It's not perfect because trying to put all of that in one book is a big ask. But most of the issues with it are more nitpicky than just being wrong. But it's in that odd space of being a heavy reference tome and a coffee table book. If the person is into the nitty gritty technical stuff, they will love it. If they want pretty drawings of rigging, they will also love it. Pirates in the Age of Sail by Anthony. It's not super deep but very broad, covering piracy in the Med, the Caribbean and Indonesia. It's one of those books that is an excellent jumping off point with an excellent bibliography for getting in deeper. Which fits Dad history pretty well. If they want something a bit more mil-history with bits of daring-do then try to find a copy of Sailor of Fortune: The Life and Adventures of Commodore Barney, USN. He was a US Naval officer during the Revolution, and the War of 1812. And he was in charge of the flotilla that tried to stop the British from sacking Washington. Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain. Robert Harvey, Carroll & Graf. Cochrane is the officer that Hornblower was based on. If you can narrow down the interest a little I can make more suggestions.
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Dec 23, 2022 22:07
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Hornblower and Jack Aubrey
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Dec 23, 2022 22:45
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