Not surprising. PCs then didn’t restrict you from doing what you wanted to do and were just a lot more fun.
Now, computers and related are just consumption lumps. Then, you could truly use them as a “bicycle for the mind.” I miss those days even if many things are better now. These days, we wear the handcuffs and though they are golden and soft, they are still handcuffs.
Journalists are going to have to learn that if (a) a vaccine is ~95% effective; (b) millions of people are getting the vaccine and (c) covid is widespread, someone getting vaccinated and later getting covid is not even *close* to being a story. https://t.co/r3bl86Ch0e
— James Chalmers (@ProfChalmers) January 8, 2021
Ayup.
If 500 million people get a 95% effective vaccine, then (even ignoring the complexities of what “effective” means here) that indicates that 25 million fucking people will still get symptomatically sick.
Just simple math, dipshits.
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
Wait, how come nobody knows how to critically evaluate news sources?
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
STEM!
These events are unprecedented in our history… oh wait, are they?— Stephanie King (@stephstephking) January 7, 2021
There’s a reason the humanities have been devalued and called “worthless” and we’re really seeing the results of that now.
There have been many things that occurred during the Trump administration called “unprecedented” that have happened frequently in the last 50 years, and many more labeled as such that have occurred in some form quite often in American history.
Tired of the STEM triumphalism even apart from its effects, though it is admittedly extremely entertaining to watch STEM people have a go at doing philosophy or epistemology. It’s like watching elephant seals attempt the hokey pokey.
I ain't a military guy, but my guess is yesterday proved a single well trained light infantry platoon could take Congress; and certainly a company could.
— Ian Welsh (@iwelsh) January 7, 2021
I was a military guy, and a squad (9-10 people) of the unit I was in could’ve easily got past that “security” and slaughtered 90% of everyone there within 8-10 minutes.
Those people who invaded the capitol, luckily, were utter incompetents and losers.
Most people have just no idea how devastating and effective a fully-equipped and well-trained infantry squad from a decent unit can be.
So let’s talk about infantry squads and how they work in US doctrine. Typically, they’ll be composed of two fire teams and a squad leader. The fire teams are organized such that one can provide a base of fire (suppressive fire) while the other team can conduct movement.
Each fire team will be equipped with two M-4 carbines, an M249, and an M203. The squad will also have one of its members as the designated marksman who carries an M-4 (most often) with optical sights — think sniper for this role, but integrated into the squad. Also, recall, there are two fire teams per squad so there is just a huge amount of firepower available to even a light infantry squad.
These people train together, usually socialize together, and drill constantly. They are shockingly fast and organized when given a clear objective, even against severe resistance.
And the M249 SAW is just a devastating weapon. Regular police-style bulletproof vests will not stop rounds from those, and when you have two firing at once they will chew up everything in their way in very, very short order. Their rounds will pass through even very thick walls, too. The SAWs fire around 800 rounds per minute and will make utter mincemeat of anything in front of them. Combine those with the two M203s (grenade launchers) and the other weapons availble to the squad and it’d be a very short fight.
Anyway, using standard infantry tactics against such poor security and opposition as demonstrated by the capitol police, a light infantry squad would’ve been in that building within a minute or two and murdering everything in sight.
I am sure that has not gone unnoticed by some.
Agreed. Peddling all manner of nonsense and promoting it algorithmically is how these platforms make most of their $$ — particularly Facebook. We nuke PornHub, but allow Facebook to live. That makes lots of sense. Facebook is at least 50% responsible for this insurrection.
I don’t see PornHub kicking off any coups, do you?