Pontius Pilate posted:

The mention of Kawasaki, along with $1 beers, prompted a question of probable faulty premises: why was it American motorcycle companies seemed to almost exclusively produce motorcycles, while bikes in other countries were made by larger industrial firms like Suzuki, BMW, Honda, etc? I vaguely recall Daimler/MB did as well? But there’s also non-American counter examples like Triumph and maybe the Italian companies as well? And I’m even more ignorant when it comes to the Soviet front; and maybe Harley and Indian actually were building tanks; and, in conclusion, please use my rambling and ignorant questions as an opportunity to post cool and informative poo poo.

Thomamelas posted:

bewbies posted:

loving weird his dad fought in the mexican war and the civil war

quote:

March 30, 1937
My dear General Connor,

Your letter requesting my formula for mixing mint juleps leaves me in the same position in which Captain Barber found himself when asked how he was able to carve the image of an elephant from a block of wood. He replied that it was a simple process consisting merely of whittling off the part that didn't look like an elephant.

The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be described only in like terms. A mint julep is not the product of a FORMULA. It is a CEREMONY and must be performed by a gentleman possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the ingredients and a proper appreciation of the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice, a statistician, nor a Yankee. It is a heritage of the old South, an emblem of hospitality and a vehicle in which noble minds can travel together upon the flower-strewn paths of happy and congenial thought.

So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the procedure, stripped of its ceremonial embellishments, can be described as follows:

Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a bank of dew-washed ferns. In a consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the stream through its banks of green moss and wildflowers until it broadens and trickles through beds of mint growing in aromatic profusion and waving softly in the summer breezes. Gather the sweetest and tenderest shoots and gently carry them home. Go to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon, distilled by a master hand, mellowed with age yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a row of silver goblets, some spoons and some ice and you are ready to start.

In a canvas bag, pound twice as much ice as you think you will need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.

In each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated sugar, barely cover this with spring water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outsides of the goblets dry and embellish copiously with mint.

Then comes the important and delicate operation of frosting. By proper manipulation of the spoon, the ingredients are circulated and blended until Nature, wishing to take a further hand and add another of its beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glittering coat of white frost. Thus harmoniously blended by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage eminently appropriate for honorable men and beautiful women.

When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the garden, where the aroma of the juleps will rise Heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast, raise the goblet to your lips, bury your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and sip the nectar of the gods.

Being overcome by thirst, I can write no further.

Sincerely,
S.B. Buckner, Jr.

Milo and POTUS posted:

...is that a chinstrap?

Thomamelas posted:

So the AMA puts out a statement saying that 99% of bikers are perfectly law abiding people.

LatwPIAT posted:

I thought that was a rumour and the AMA had said they have no record of ever saying such a thing?

Thomamelas posted:

I think that's just the crease of a fat dude's neck. Unless you were thinking the chin strap is somewhere else.

Milo and POTUS posted:

Guy in the background

bewbies posted:

perhaps they realized that motorcycles are idiotmobiles for dumbasses

Siivola posted:

For your dudes, taking cover and waiting for someone else to fix your problem doesn't work and is kinda cowardly. By the forties, that seems to become an important part of American tactics.

Panzeh posted:

The 1ID(the most experienced US infantry division in the ETO) was considered to be a mess in terms of discipline. I've heard that the UK 7AD was similar but i've also heard that it had problems with its leadership at Normandy.

Alchenar posted:

I recall this from one of Max Hasting's Normandy/post-Normandy books - around 6 months experience was apparently 'peak veterancy' for a unit, after which the benefit of experience starts to get overwhelmed by the feeling that the law of averages is going to catch up with you.

bewbies posted:

This is pretty much spot on for everyone who has fought a war ever. The US army also now has mountains of data about how this works across multiple deployments, which is pretty fascinating. Some tidbits off the top of my head:

- Soldiers on their second deployment are usually significantly less efficient for the first 6 to 8 weeks. The likely cause for this is some mix of "the way my old unit did things was better" and "I'm a pro, I know all this poo poo already"

- Second deployment soldiers, once they adapt to their new situation, are typically the most efficient of all soldiers until they hit short-timer status

- Third deployment soldiers usually start at peak efficiency, but it erodes very quickly about halfway through the deployment. This is the model everyone follows for all future deployments.

- The probability of criminal action or some other serious malfeasance increases with subsequent deployments. It is almost a straight line increase in probability based on total time you've spent deployed.

- Latter deployments (especially 3rd+) are heavily financially motivated. A lot of these guys were volunteers of sorts, and most were senior NCOs or officers by this point, and so had a huge financial incentive to deploy.

- PTSD probability is unchanged between multiple deployments, provided you adjust for the greater chances of something bad happening.

Anyway if anyone wants to operationalize all this and tell the army what to do about it that'd be great.

Cessna posted:

I've heard Ambrose described as "history as seen through the eyes of an adoring child sitting on grandpa's couch."

"Tell me what you did in the war, granddad?"

Nenonen posted:

The latter sounds like an impossible nightmare for a statistician. Outside of one's deployments, we're talking about the entire rest of the person's life - which could last 70 years after the last deployment, or the person might die in a traffic accident on the first day as a civilian. Not to mention the number of different jurisdictions you'd need to query to know how many indictments the person has got outside military. So probably the former.

HEY GUNS posted:

so i have a choice between "narrowly missed korea, was gay in japan" and "italian navy"

greeeeeat

EvilMerlin posted:

About half a million American Jews served in WW2.

16 million Americans served during the whole war. This included both TO's and home units (like WASPs etc).

So yeah chances are you did have a Jewish soldier/airman/Marine in your unit...

PS: read up on Maurice Rose, not only a Jewish soldier, but also the highest ranking American killed in the line of duty.

bewbies posted:

perhaps they realized that motorcycles are idiotmobiles for dumbasses

Comrade Gorbash posted:

I was going to say the first at least would be really interesting, but then I thought about either of my grandfathers telling me about their sexual exploits, of any type at any place at any time, and immediately recoiled.

HEY GUNS posted:

within certain parameters there's not much "someone else" can do. If communication breaks down, which it often does, a battalion should be able to fight on its own until it's reestablished.

HEY GUNS posted:

In addition to the attitude toward violence, I wonder if the difference is because 17th century weapons were really not that great a lot of the time

Also there are fewer battles. Casualty rates in a battle are horrifically high, but if you never get into one it's all just maneuver and tiny groups of cav riding around in the woods

Milo and POTUS posted:

...is that a chinstrap?

bewbies posted:

perhaps they realized that motorcycles are idiotmobiles for dumbasses

Thomamelas posted:

bikers

HEY GUNS posted:

"narrowly missed korea, was gay in japan"

Alchenar posted:

I recall this from one of Max Hasting's Normandy/post-Normandy books - around 6 months experience was apparently 'peak veterancy' for a unit, after which the benefit of experience starts to get overwhelmed by the feeling that the law of averages is going to catch up with you.

Siivola posted:

This also makes a lot of sense.

HEY GUNS posted:

also most of these guys are queer in some way. this aesthetic is where the leather aesthetic/subculture comes from

bewbies posted:

More mildly interesting org behavior stuff with regards to the short timer phase: it is basically a classic prisoner's dilemma, but on a big scale. Like, if you're not taking any risks individually, you might be safer, but if your entire unit starts doing it, suddenly everyone is much. much less safe.

Cessna posted:

This was generally true of individuals on one-year tours in Vietnam. Early on you're the FNG, after a few months you're competent, when you're close to a year you're "short" and just looking to get out.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

How the gently caress do you give an army an indefinite deployment in a counter insurgency war without everything absolutely falling apart after 2 years at most as the whole army mutinies?

Cessna posted:

By rotating units, not individuals, like the US does today.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

I’ve heard more then one person say that it should have been like in WWII where once deployed the troops shouldn’t come home until the war was won.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

I’ve heard more then one person say that it should have been like in WWII where once deployed the troops shouldn’t come home until the war was won. This argument always involves invading the North of course because that would have been genius.

zoux posted:

I guess I never realized that was how it's done. Were dudes who were enlisted in like 1940 bound by that as well?

bewbies posted:

I have no idea how this learning might be applied to a proper hotwar situation though.