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Eej posted:Related to the Ontos from earlier, look at this silly looking Tank Destroyer from Japan. The French put one on a scooter, IIRC.
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Jan 27, 2016 21:12
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Sergeant Snorkel there looks like he's taking a giant constipated dump in the drivers' seat.
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Jan 27, 2016 21:22
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Ensign Expendable posted:The French put one on a scooter, IIRC. That one was for airborne troops for convenient light transport after being dropped from a plane, not for firing while attached to the scooter. Sort of like Volksturm Panzerfaust bicycles:  It must have been tremendous fun pedalling a clumsy army bike loaded with all your gear plus two Panzerfausts, 5kg each, through muddy roads while wearing a thick uniform! edit: for convenience, here's what the Vespa 150 TAP looked like.  It's amazing that the Combat Reform guy hasn't caught on this. Each Gavin could be escorted by a Vespa, it would function both as a scout and as anti-tank support! Nenonen fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 27, 2016 21:29
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bewbies posted:Sergeant Snorkel there looks like he's taking a giant constipated dump in the drivers' seat.
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Jan 27, 2016 21:31
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someone persuade me away from this http://www.antiqueoakfurniture.co.uk/view_details.asp?prod_id=118
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Jan 27, 2016 22:55
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HEY GAL posted:someone persuade me away from this It doesn't look like a cool antique, it looks like somebody's metal work project from 20 years ago. I know you think it's cool but nobody you show it to will. £220 is an awful lot of money for a rusty knife.
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Jan 27, 2016 22:59
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it is a fuckton of money, especially since I'm american so the exchange rate is against me. And it might break. And leaving aside whether or not people will be impressed, very few people will even see it if I wear it on my belt. And I'll feel guilty about wearing it on my belt. Thank you.
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Jan 27, 2016 23:16
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HEY GAL posted:it is a fuckton of money, especially since I'm american so the exchange rate is against me. And it might break. And leaving aside whether or not people will be impressed, very few people will even see it if I wear it on my belt. And I'll feel guilty about wearing it on my belt. Thank you. Plus there is a non-trivial chance that it's a fake.
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Jan 27, 2016 23:52
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There's better ways to spend that much money. For example, giving all of it to me. In return, I guarantee a genuine 21st century exclamation of "I can't believe it worked!"* *Language used may not be English. Offer void in Nebraska e: Seriously, though, the average monthly pay in a big chunk of my country is below 200$, making that knife's price a  amount of money for me.
my dad fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Jan 28, 2016 |
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Jan 28, 2016 00:02
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Amazingly goony question: When counting the length of a cannon barrel, is the muzzle brake included in the length or is that dismissed?
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Jan 28, 2016 00:08
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I'm pretty sure it's not counted since some cannons can have one or not have one depending on *reasons*
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Jan 28, 2016 00:20
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spectralent posted:Amazingly goony question: I'm pretty sure that muzzle brake doesn't count for nominal barrel length. Muzzle brakes are added after the gun has been developed, depending on if such a device is needed in the intended usage. Some guns have had several muzzle brakes designed for them. And muzzle brake does not extend the actual barrel itself, even if it increases the physical dimensions a little.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:22
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If I recall correctly, several Sherman variants were shipped with screw patterns cut into their barrels so that later on muzzle brakes could be fitted.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:33
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HEY GAL posted:someone persuade me away from this Think of how many books you could buy with that $400 or so.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:45
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Fangz posted:If I recall correctly, several Sherman variants were shipped with screw patterns cut into their barrels so that later on muzzle brakes could be fitted. The M1A1C and M1A2 were generally (always?) equipped with a muzzle brake (Yes, ANOTHER M1 during WWII)
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Jan 28, 2016 00:51
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Nenonen posted:I'm pretty sure that muzzle brake doesn't count for nominal barrel length. Muzzle brakes are added after the gun has been developed, depending on if such a device is needed in the intended usage. Some guns have had several muzzle brakes designed for them. And muzzle brake does not extend the actual barrel itself, even if it increases the physical dimensions a little. The muzzle brake could potentially be included if what mattered was how much actually physically extended from the turret, like determining if a barrel is too long to easily maneuver in close quarters (though I can't see such a short length affecting it any). Otherwise, it does nothing to change the barrel length in terms of increasing velocity and accuracy.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:53
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spectralent posted:Amazingly goony question: It definitely is not with modern guns, barrel length is exactly chamber to break, rounded down. The reason you care about calibers is it relates to barrel wear and muzzle velocity and powder charge and all that, which the muzzle brake has no effect on. I know not about WWII era guns or any other era guns.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:57
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Nenonen posted:I'm pretty sure that muzzle brake doesn't count for nominal barrel length. Muzzle brakes are added after the gun has been developed, depending on if such a device is needed in the intended usage. Some guns have had several muzzle brakes designed for them. And muzzle brake does not extend the actual barrel itself, even if it increases the physical dimensions a little. I bet there's one country that includes it, but I'm pretty sure normal practice is not to, the breech is the part where different countries include different parts to measure the same thing differently.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:57
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HEY GAL posted:someone persuade me away from this Look into the loving irritating knife making thread, make your own!
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Jan 28, 2016 00:58
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ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:Think of how many books you could buy with that $400 or so. I'm just laughing at all of you who think $400 is an insane price for a 400 year old knife. gently caress, you can't buy a decent condition Nazi helmet for that much, and oh holy poo poo never look at WW2 era firearms.* poo poo, I've seen ACW bayonets go for way more than that. Hell, anything ACW - that stuff is crazy. *major belligerents, no one gives a gently caress about an old Yugoslav or Czech or Austrian rifle edit: not that that isn't expensive on a grad student's stipend. I've done my time living on $12,000 a year.
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Jan 28, 2016 01:29
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lenoon posted:aside from engineered famine, which happened in Ireland, which I guess is not technically mainland Britain 
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Jan 28, 2016 01:30
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This Frenchman's story is probably too unfriendly with dates to use in the blog, but this little observation needs posting. This is almost certainly February 1915; the author has just joined his unit:quote:Our introduction was short and unceremonious. A man brought on the table a bottle of very sweet Moselle wine, which is christened at the front "Champagne". It was one of those wines which make up for their qualities by such pompous appellations and well-intentioned labels as "Champagne de la Victory," ''Champagne de la Revenge," "...of the Allies," ''...of the Poilu," ''...of Glory". They are all equally bad, but they make a loud noise when the cork is drawn and most of the wine flows away in sparkling foam. And really, what more do you need from Champagne?
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Jan 28, 2016 01:30
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Cyrano4747 posted:I'm just laughing at all of you who think $400 is an insane price for a 400 year old knife. gently caress, you can't buy a decent condition Nazi helmet for that much, and oh holy poo poo never look at WW2 era firearms.* poo poo, I've seen ACW bayonets go for way more than that. Hell, anything ACW - that stuff is crazy. i got an ACW bayonet for free and i wore it on my belt instead of a repro all the time i was a reenactor but yeah, nobody gives a poo poo about the 80yw, 30yw, or ECW, making real antiques cheap (there's no market) and reproductions expensive (there're only a few people making them)
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Jan 28, 2016 01:31
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HEY GAL posted:i got an ACW bayonet for free and i wore it on my belt instead of a repro all the time i was a reenactor Honestly I'm going to go a bit against the grain here: If you think that knife is all that and it really speaks to you and you feel relatively confident that it's real, go ahead and get it. Not as something to wear around while Czech guys try to bash your teeth in, but as something to have in your office or apartment or whatever as a neat thing to have. My house is full of random antiques - some valuable some not - just because I like old poo poo. Yes, it's expensive for what you're making now (at least I assume, based on my own pittance as a grad student) but 400 also isn't outside the realm of saving your pennies for a few months. The one really tricky thing I cna think of is getting it home. Knives on airplanes and all that. I'd say probably ship it and eat the $50 or whatever that would cost, but that would just be my suggestion.
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Jan 28, 2016 01:43
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Trin Tragula posted:This Frenchman's story is probably too unfriendly with dates to use in the blog, but this little observation needs posting. This is almost certainly February 1915; the author has just joined his unit: Hey Trin, while you're looking back on 1915, did you ever notice anything on the battle of the Wassir, 2 April 1915? It would suit your bottom up way of looking at the war. And if you need more inducement, it involves a certain amount of Venereal Disease There's a very good write up on it here and a good summary with several links here. There looks to also be primary sources here, but I haven't read them.
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Jan 28, 2016 01:49
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Jaguars! posted:Hey Trin, while you're looking back on 1915, did you ever notice anything on the battle of the Wassir, 2 April 1915? It would suit your bottom up way of looking at the war. Ask / Tell > Ask Us About Military History: It involves a certain amount of venereal disease
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Jan 28, 2016 01:51
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Nebakenezzer posted:The eternal struggle:
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Jan 28, 2016 01:59
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Cyrano4747 posted:Honestly I'm going to go a bit against the grain here: If you think that knife is all that and it really speaks to you and you feel relatively confident that it's real, go ahead and get it. Not as something to wear around while Czech guys try to bash your teeth in, but as something to have in your office or apartment or whatever as a neat thing to have. My house is full of random antiques - some valuable some not - just because I like old poo poo. Yes, it's expensive for what you're making now (at least I assume, based on my own pittance as a grad student) but 400 also isn't outside the realm of saving your pennies for a few months. And knives in checked baggage are fine, my belt knife (which is live steel) and my sword (which is blunt) have been through airports all the time. It's carryon that's the problem. Edit: And I also just bought that sword, for 500 euros plus shipping, which means that any more large expenses had better be for something real cool.
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Jan 28, 2016 02:02
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spectralent posted:Amazingly goony question: As with almost everything else, the answer is "depends on who's measuring it".
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Jan 28, 2016 02:28
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HEY GAL posted:Edit: And I also just bought that sword, for 500 euros plus shipping, which means that any more large expenses had better be for something real cool. You made the right decision. A sword beats what looks like a historically accurate prison shank any day. Seriously, go make your own knife out of some rebar, it'll be a good time.
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Jan 28, 2016 02:32
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Cyrano4747 posted:Ask / Tell > Ask Us About Military History: It involves a certain amount of venereal disease I suppose I should describe it for people who don't want to read long winded links.  The Battle Of The WassirIn 1915, the ANZACs were deployed to various locations in Egypt and being worked into a real army prior to Gallipolli. There wasn't much military equipment in Australasia, so this was their first chance to use up to date military hardware or get trained by people who knew what they were talking about. Since they were training near Cairo, the men would head there whenever they had leave, and naturally enough, many gravitated toward the brothels, including a district known as the Was'a (Unsurprisingly known by any number of variant spellings.). As a result, the average VD rate was 12% and one unit was recorded at 25%. On 2nd April, many men were on leave over Easter (Another big factor was that this is only a few days before shipping out for Gallipoli). A riot involving about 2000 troops broke out, razing several brothels in the quarter. Staff HQ was only a few blocks away, so order was restored after a few hours by mounted troops shooting over the heads of the troops. Investigations and finger pointing followed, and it was determined that because 3 Aussies and 1 Kiwi had been injured by the warning shots, roughly in proportion to the forces present, the two forces would pay for the damages pro rata. Although little reliable evidence could be got from the witnesses, some of the following were cited as causes: quote:
Second Wassir (Of course there's a second one, It's WWI), occurred on July 31, but was a smaller thing and info about it is less easy to find online. Wiki has record of a later, post-armistice riot on the page for it: Auckland Star, Auckland Star, 27 February 1919, p4 posted:Several thousand Tommies took Cairo by storm, and there was looting far and wide. Many shrewd attempts were made to entice the Aussies into the mob, but they were not biting. Not content with stuffing bags with spoil, the maffickers passed on the Anzac Hotel, making a wreck of that institution, though it has been almost entirely a Tommy concern since the Australian infantry's departure, and has provided them with the only lodging within their means, together with the cheapest good quality meals. A descent was also made on the Australian and Maorilander Soldiers' club, and one small patch of Aussies left us, but a few willing Diggers soon settled that argument. The G.O.C troops in Egypt has issued a public proclamation thanking the Australians and Maorilanders for their strong support in limiting and quelling the outbreak. Since certain still-not-to-be-mentioned proceedings at the Wazzir, retaliation for numerous murders and fatal doping, the Australians have had mud thrown at them on every possible occasion. Just as frequently they have been told to take an example from the disciplined Tommy. Now those dabblers in pitch are floundering in their own defilement. The original bit that triggered my researches was that because of this incident, Australian troops were at first not allowed to enter Cairo during WWII. That came out of either the Official History of the NZ Artillery or ANZAC fury: The Battle of Crete by Peter Thompson, but I have no idea what other sources could confirm it. Finally, another incident like this took place shortly before the first troop convoy from New Zealand. Shortly before the troops (Probably the Auckland mounted rifles IIRC) embarked at Auckland, they were given one hour to say good by to their families to fill in some time before their trains arrived. You can guess how many came back after an hour, and in what state they were in when they did turn up. (Unfortunately my source for this one was a newspaper article a couple of years ago and I haven't been able to find it since.) Later reinforcement drafts were not given this opportunity. Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Jan 28, 2016 |
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Jan 28, 2016 02:32
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T___A posted:Looks like it would fit just fine for America's greatest general: Ol' Fuss and Feathers! General Grant served under both Scott and Zachary Taylor ("Ol' Rough and Ready"), and said in his memoirs they were both pretty drat good at their jobs. Although I got the feeling he liked Taylor better, at least personally. Taylor was gearing himself up to put his boot up South Carolina's rear end when he died, apparently. Despite being a slave owner himself, he hated the idea of secession and wasn't keen on the expansion of slavery into the territories either (he told California and New Mexico to cheat the system by going straight to statehood so they could dodge the issue altogether).
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Jan 28, 2016 02:57
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ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:Ol' Fuss and Feathers! Yeah, Grant in his memoirs either explicitly said or heavily implied that he mimicked Taylor in his approach to e.g. uniform regulations.
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Jan 28, 2016 04:35
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Arquinsiel posted:Wait, that actually happened and wasn't a transparent lie my teachers told me in an effort to instil a sense of blind rabid nationalism in me? Nope, Ireland and Bengal were actually both exporting food during their famines because of the magic of colonial economics and a total lack of fucks. One in India got handled decently and the guy responsible drat near got cashiered for it.
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Jan 28, 2016 04:42
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You can teach a man to run and march, shoot and stab another man with a bayonet, but getting him to stay away from cheap floosies is impossible.
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Jan 28, 2016 07:55
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Cyrano4747 posted:I'm just laughing at all of you who think $400 is an insane price for a 400 year old knife. gently caress, you can't buy a decent condition Nazi helmet for that much, and oh holy poo poo never look at WW2 era firearms.* poo poo, I've seen ACW bayonets go for way more than that. Hell, anything ACW - that stuff is crazy. An Austrian or Czech rifle in WW2 would indeed be rather a rare thing 
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Jan 28, 2016 10:55
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xthetenth posted:Nope, Ireland and Bengal were actually both exporting food during their famines because of the magic of colonial economics and a total lack of fucks. One in India got handled decently and the guy responsible drat near got cashiered for it. That's not quite the same as 'engineered', which implies some moustache-twirling guy in the British government sat down and explicitly thought to himself 'how can I starve as many Irish people to death as possible'. Same difference as between the British concentration camps in the Boer War and the Final Solution.
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Jan 28, 2016 10:59
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Sometimes it is amazing the British Empire was even a thing or it lasted at least two centuries.
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Jan 28, 2016 13:53
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feedmegin posted:That's not quite the same as 'engineered', which implies some moustache-twirling guy in the British government sat down and explicitly thought to himself 'how can I starve as many Irish people to death as possible'. Same difference as between the British concentration camps in the Boer War and the Final Solution. Engineered doesn't necessarily have to mean "created to cause suffering", it could be that it was a situation set up deliberately that could only ever end in one way - an unintentional (but not unforeseeable) catastrophe. In terms of deliberate systems in place, the tax-farming-style landlord system and discrimination against catholics set up a populace dependent on a single cash crop (actually beef, not potatoes) for export, at the whim of an essentially feudal overlord collecting money as he saw fit to parcel off to the landed gentry usually living somewhere in England. This system relied on massive levels of subdivision and enclosure, which the British government knew about and wrung their hands in mock-condemnation while agreeing that it was all very terrible, but gosh didn't the landlords bring in such huge amounts of money for the landlords. Ireland ended up with a Cotter-farmer population who could only survive on a crop that needed little land, little investment and could feasibly feed a family throughout the year - the potato. So, we have a system whereby:
This system is theoretically sustainable as long as a) Nobody cares about the lives of Irish farmers and b) You really think monoculture is great. Luckily for the British Government, and unluckily for Ireland, both of these conditions were in place in the 1840's. The (first) Devon Commission (I want to say 1844 here, but it has been a while since I looked into this, the date could be wrong) clearly points out that the Irish cotters are worse-off than virtually anyone else in the Empire, and that monoculture is a terrible idea. It also points out that the Landlord-rent collector-Cotter relationship is unsustainable. Even before the Devon Commission sits, the House of Commons is being endlessly needled about how damaging the Irish Poor Law and the Corn Laws are in this situation, making a populace that is on the edge of total economic collapse, but the main worry being: Corn Law Bill of 1841 posted:a "very considerable decrease" of the present protection would discourage British agriculture, might render this country dependent upon foreigners for a supply of the first necessary of life, and might, in the event, of unfavourable seasons, expose it to the horrors of famine. So, in 1841, years before the blight, the government knows that the situation is set up for a fall. It has been engineered to do so by the Landlords sitting in the Commons and Lords. Not engineered to fail, but engineered to produce the maximum amount of capital possible. The response from the Commons is to strike down Ireland-specific amendments to the Corn Laws and the Poor Laws in case the delicate balance of "not having to spend any money on the bloody irish while still wringing the country dry" is upset. By the time 1845 rolls around and brings the blight with it, we have (some) Irish MPs and (some) Whig MPs screaming in the Commons that Irish Cotters are destitute beyond belief, that they are dependent on a single crop, that exporting potatoes and beef from Ireland (where all the money goes to the landlords, and the cotters get the privilege of living another year for their efforts) while putting crazy tariffs on the import of foodstuffs is going to lead to disaster - and they've been screaming it for years! When famine and blight hits, the response of the British government is largely "bootstraps, bitch!". It didn't take me too long to dig out, but here's an excerpt from Ralph Bernal's speech to the Commons in December 1846 on the efforts of the Commons: quote:This [Famine and Typhus epidemic] being the awful state of affairs, was the House of Commons to stand still waiting for the dilatory proceedings of railway companies, commissioners, and boards of works? It was all very fine to talk of teaching the Irish people to depend on themselves, and to buy oats and barley for their own use. Where were they to get money to purchase food? A vast proportion of the Irish population had no money in their pockets to buy either such provision as was indigenous to the soil, or such as might be imported. What arrant nonsense it was, then, to bid them buy food! Were they to be starved to death pending the arrival of the period when riches would come upon them? When a system is engineered to produce an extremely fragile wealth-creating machine that is one variable away from total and catastrophic failure, and repeated attempts to reform the system to be more robust and less cruel are blocked by the vested interests, the famine that inevitably results - and has been predicted by a Royal Commission no less - is engineered. So, in essence: quote:some moustache-twirling guy in the British government sat down and explicitly thought to himself 'how can I make as much money off Irish people as possible, with possible catastrophic famine as an acceptable cost of doing business' Edit: as I wrote that out, I realised that I remember a crazy amount of detail based on some books I read a few years ago, and also that the parallels to the current economic crisis are horrifically obvious
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Jan 28, 2016 15:23
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lenoon posted:Edit: as I wrote that out, I realised that I remember a crazy amount of detail based on some books I read a few years ago, and also that the parallels to the current economic crisis are horrifically obvious You narrowly beat me to this, as well as several similar complaints about current vexing issues in the UK 
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Jan 28, 2016 15:39
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