6 ms·

This reminds me of the observation that you shouldn't buy a car from a dealer who calls himself Honest Ed. Because honest people just go around being honest, t

by mjd 1y ago

This reminds me of the observation that you shouldn't buy a car from a dealer who calls himself Honest Ed. Because honest people just go around being honest, they don't go around broadcasting honesty.

robomc 1y ago
The tennis example is weird though. I don't think people who are bad at tennis go around claiming they're great at tennis, do they?
- alemanek 1y ago
  They do, seriously it is very common with male interactions. I have seen it first hand with tennis, golf, chess, and bowling. With golf easily being the most common
  - kriro 1y ago
    Chess? Can't you just ask for their ELO? Or some proxy like chess.com rating? If you're good you must have played a lot of games. If you did, you got some number to back it up.
  - weitendorf 1y ago
    I find it helpful to tell people who I know only dabble in eg chess that I am "pretty good at chess" when they do not have enough context on things like Elo and FIDE ratings to be able to understand comparisons like that. Of course, if someone knows what Elo is or is an active chess player then I will more humbly just tell them I am only like 1600 on lichess. I don't think this is necessarily bad. Compared to people who only dabble in things, someone who spends a decent amount of time on something actually is "pretty good" at it even though they might not be top tier to people within that same culture. I think there is some popular (dan luu?) blog about this. You can actually pretty easily be in the top 1% of skill or knowledge on something, and while that doesn't make you a world expert by any means, it does kinda make you an expert to an average person. My 1600 rating is very good within the pool of people who know what chess is and can play it, even though it's not impressive at all for people who actively play chess.
- readthenotes1 1y ago
  Dunning Kruger would have us think so. Also, most people who are good at something let their actions speak.
  - hluska 1y ago
    Tennis is competitive though and unlike golf there’s no form of handicap. When it comes to pick up tennis, it’s not fun playing against someone way below or way above your level. I refer to myself as mediocre at tennis so I can play against people who are around my level. People who are good refer to themselves as being good so that everyone enjoys themselves (and improves) on a court. The difference between good and mediocre is significant. To the point that I cannot return a good tennis player’s serves. The difference between mediocre and post beginner is just as significant.
    - bruce511 1y ago
      Having played both tennis and golf, I agree. It's a lot harder to play social tennis than social golf. Two nice things about golf - the handicap system let's two players of different level engage in fun competition. (Yes, handicaps can be manipulated, but for the most part aren't. ) Second a very good player can play with a bad player, and both can have fun. The social factor is more important to the fun, and I've enjoyed tight games with people with hugely disparate handicaps. With tennis I always want to play either someone just a little bit better than me. Someone who can help me get a bit better all the time. My enjoyment of the game depends a lot on their performance. Both are enjoyable in their own right.
      - wink 1y ago
        How do you overcome a wrong observation of a local maximum though (e.g. in your club maybe)? I only experienced something like this once, late 90s. We thought of ourselves as pretty ok StarCraft players until we got some visitor to a lan party who basically demolished everyone. This was pre-ladder iirc so you only played a handful of games online.
        1y ago
xyzzy123 1y ago
Or how countries with "democratic" in the name invariably are not.
- riehwvfbk 1y ago
  And few countries are as split into two warring camps as the United States of America.
  - theoreticalmal 1y ago
    Where’s the war? I must not be in a conflict zone
    - t-3 1y ago
      Try going outside and attempt to honestly express your opinion of the current President or Israel or immigrants or ${current_political_thing}. Maybe you live in a political monoculture, but most places are not.
      - wredcoll 1y ago
        Mate, people yelling insults at you in public in regards to your political opinions is practically the definition of a functioning democracy.
        DougN7 1y ago
        Not if it uses fear and intimidation as a tactic.
        wredcoll 1y ago
        Are you technically correct? Yes. Are the majority of people who make these types of complaints thin-skinned right-wingers? Also yes. In my experience, people who actually experience intimidation for their views, like you know, the view that being gay is fine actually, don't go around making these types of complaints. They're out protesting and fighting.
ldjkfkdsjnv 1y ago
Yup. Anytime someone keeps advertising some trait, its probably a cover up. They might not even be aware of it.
- GianFabien 1y ago
  Perhaps they are subconsciously aware of it. That is why they have to go around muttering affirmations to the contrary.
  - ldjkfkdsjnv 1y ago
    Some of the worst behavior ive seen in my life has been done by devout catholics. who themselves cant see the consequences of their actions. and im not knocking religion, i just had to live alot of life to start being alarmed by outspoken moralists.
    - ryandv 1y ago
      > Some of the worst behavior ive seen in my life has been done by devout catholics. Those same "devout Catholics" can also be found identifying as secular "progressives" or whatever other word is trendy and evokes implications of moral superiority and righteousness. The religions and pantheons may differ but the core psychological mechanisms are the same. The devout Catholic knows all the canned responses and hymns by rote, but only when the priest is there to prompt him; he forgets his moral code the second he has stood up from the pews. Analogously the secular progressive will eagerly output all the tokens expected of a "good person" when adequately prompted with contemporary inclusive language; yet they don't appear to be able to keep to their principles in other environments when they aren't being supplied with the exact same context and tokens.
      - wredcoll 1y ago
        What a wildly random series of sentences that never bother making an actual point. Personally, while I'd rather people be good, I'll settle for them pretending really hard.
ryandv 1y ago
> I’m suspicious whenever someone says, “I’m an (adjective) (noun).” Why did you need to say, “I’m a great tennis player,” “I’m a deep thinker,” or “I’m a generous person”? Instead, why not simply play tennis, regardless of how great you are? Or think as deeply as you want? Or be generous? Which is why the whole "identification" fad is bullshit. Why bother identifying as a singer if you cannot sing? Just a continuation of this postmodern delusion that puts the cart before the horse and elevates language and symbols about reality over reality itself.
- dylan604 1y ago
  Most of the time, you don't have to walk the walk though. With the sports example, you can drop being great at it while talking to people at a bar or dinner party or online as you can't be asked to prove it right then and there. If you claim to be a good singer, you can pretty much do that at any time so that's a bit harder.
- wredcoll 1y ago
  When people talk about their own identity, they very rarely mean something like "great at singing". I admire your confidence that reality is so easily measured and categorized though. Personally, as I grow older, I find more and more exceptions to things I once thought of as immutable truth.
  - ryandv 1y ago
    No, my point is that the concept of identity is nonsense. Show me a proof of the existence of an "identity" and I will furnish you proof of the soul and god.
    - wredcoll 1y ago
      Sure, just as soon as you show me the proof of existence of "thoughts" and that you exist as something other than an illusion in my mind. How about the existence of numbers? The proof of 1+1=2? We humans have words for lots of things that only exist as abstract concepts without a physical embodiment. Identity is one more of those and it's trivial to understand its application to real people.
alwa 1y ago
Honest Achmed, on the other hand—I hear he issues only the most legitimate of certificates from his Used Cars and Certificates Emporium! https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647959 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647959
- MichaelZuo 1y ago
  Yeah discussing honesty seems pointless in real life considering a much lower bar… avoiding writing provable factual lies on the record… is often not even satisfied by large swathes on the population. Who often get away without any noticeable punishment too. In comparison even a deceiver that says a dozen half truths an hour, without any outright factual lies, seems like a paragon of virtue.
kirubakaran 1y ago
"Open" AI
garbanz0 1y ago
I just say "To be honest" when I want to signal I'm about to say something that someone doesn't want to hear or that is slightly inappropriate
nine_k 1y ago
In general, one's own words are the cheapest, and thus least reliable, form of signaling. If you call yourself "Honest Ed", it's pretty suspicious; if others unironically give you a moniker "Honest Ed", it's high praise. Understatement is something only the renowned can afford; those who suck (or swindle) have to resort to overstatement and seek gullible audience.
- dylan604 1y ago
  Sometimes people give the names ironically like calling the NFL lineman Tiny
brikym 1y ago
I think that's true of most marketing. The bigger the lie the more shouting has to be done. Peter Thiel mentions that monopoly companies often have the most 'sales' in order to seem competitive. And conversely small competitive companies want to seem large and stable. A bag of lettuce won't have 'healthy' all over the packaging because that's self evident but a bottle or can sugary drink will have all sorts of claims about vitamins there is even a brand called Vitamin Water. Honey Nut Cheerios Heart Healthy Breakfast Cereal. Vitamin Water. Green Hydrogen. Clean Diesel. Patriot Act.
- tough 1y ago
  Double Speak
  - brikym 1y ago
    How did I forget the biggest lie of all time: 'Open' AI
pers0n 1y ago
Sounds like people that claim to be religious or mention they are Christian to gain trust, I lived in the Bible Belt and saw that a lot
- jjtheblunt 1y ago
  that's everywhere
  - yencabulator 1y ago
    Actually, no. It's incredibly rare in the Nordics, which are way more secular. Claiming to be religious there gains you practically nothing, and might lose you some.
    - jjtheblunt 1y ago
      that is also true in wide, but unpredictably located, swaths of America, i can attest. I grew up in a very famously religious suburb of Chicago, and the proudly super church-y family nearby ended up with the father convicted of embezzling from the church. consistent with your nordic point, it seemed to surprise no one (perhaps because most of the area was northwest european recently derived families).
      - tptacek 1y ago
        I'm trying to think of a famously religious suburb of Chicago besides Skokie, which I would not describe as "church-y". Wheaton? I had to look that up.
        jjtheblunt 1y ago
        wheaton it is. evanston before that as a toddler. you're in oak park? (hi!)
        tptacek 1y ago
mbreese 1y ago
That reminds me of the Guarantee scene from the movie Tommy Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEB7WbTTlu4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEB7WbTTlu4 To briefly summarize (and sanitize), just because someone puts a guarantee on the box doesn't mean they'll stand by it. The guarantee on the box makes you feel warm and toasty, and that's what you bought -- the warm feelings. But if you have a quality product, you don't need to advertise the guarantee... the product is good enough on it's own. (or something like that...)
- tough 1y ago
  Similarly the -refund, no questions asked- even if its honored by merchants plays on a psychological effect where most people wont ask for a refund (even if they dont use the product) unless its really broken/whatever marketing is the art of manipulation
  - beAbU 1y ago
    My father has been a Leatherman guy for as long as I can remember. We were at a gun show or trade fair many years ago, and leatherman had a stall there. They had a guy manning a service station, and the idea was you bring you multitool and they'll oil it, sharpen the blades, tighten screws etc. All free of course. So my dad sends me with his leatherman to stand in the queue at this stall, while he goes to enjoy the rest of the expo. Eventually my turn comes up, I hand over my dad's multitool and the gentleman gets to work servicing it. He beckons to the person behind me, to find out what he wants. This guy walks up and dumps a heap of parts on the bench. His multitool was in literal pieces. It fell off his belt while at speed on a motorcycle or something. The Leatherman Man put down my dad's tool, scraped the heap of scrap off the bench into a bin, reached for a shelf behind him and pulled off a brand new multitool and gave it to this guy, and waved him off. This to me was the most powerful expression of "we got u" I've ever seen from a company, and they don't even put "no questions asked" on the box! Needless to say I'm now also a Leatherman guy.
    - tough 1y ago
      there was a time when apple wasnt a big shot where going to a genius bar felt like this, like your mac could be out of warranty technically but some guy could go above and beyond to try and fix it. great customer service is a great hack for retention
bloomingeek 1y ago
I think most people get taken advantage of at a car dealership because they don't understand that they must do their homework on what the value is of the vehicle they're interested in, understand the financing, knowing what the extended warranty is worth and always walk away from pressure salesmanship. If something is confusing, have them print out an offer on the vehicle and take it to someone for help. If they don't want to do that, walk! If the buyer remembers the dealership wants to make as much money as they can, then it's you against them. Since this is a given, what's on paper counts.
- tough 1y ago
  or just call every dealership on the country looking for the ones that randomly need to fill their sales quota that month
- majormajor 1y ago
  The more expensive a transaction, the more crap. Houses are worse than cars! But then if you spend enough more you get into super fancy squads of lawyers territory and a lot more due diligence and contracts. The sweet spot for scams it: * rare enough for the average person that they won't do too many in their life, and so it would be high effort to become an expert * not quite expensive enough that all your potential buyers can lawyer up Kinda funny that we put up with it. It's not adding value to the economy.
- yencabulator 1y ago
  I'm very much ok with having a used car, and in case that's true for you too, here's my thinking: A private seller may be scamming you, but a professional car salesman is guaranteed to be.
infamousclyde 1y ago
Similarly, there’s a special military unit whose motto is “Facta Non Verba”— deeds, not words. Talk is cheap!

by mjd 1y ago

robomc 1y ago

The tennis example is weird though. I don't think people who are bad at tennis go around claiming they're great at tennis, do they?

alemanek 1y ago
They do, seriously it is very common with male interactions. I have seen it first hand with tennis, golf, chess, and bowling. With golf easily being the most common
- kriro 1y ago
  Chess? Can't you just ask for their ELO? Or some proxy like chess.com rating? If you're good you must have played a lot of games. If you did, you got some number to back it up.
- weitendorf 1y ago
  I find it helpful to tell people who I know only dabble in eg chess that I am "pretty good at chess" when they do not have enough context on things like Elo and FIDE ratings to be able to understand comparisons like that. Of course, if someone knows what Elo is or is an active chess player then I will more humbly just tell them I am only like 1600 on lichess. I don't think this is necessarily bad. Compared to people who only dabble in things, someone who spends a decent amount of time on something actually is "pretty good" at it even though they might not be top tier to people within that same culture. I think there is some popular (dan luu?) blog about this. You can actually pretty easily be in the top 1% of skill or knowledge on something, and while that doesn't make you a world expert by any means, it does kinda make you an expert to an average person. My 1600 rating is very good within the pool of people who know what chess is and can play it, even though it's not impressive at all for people who actively play chess.
readthenotes1 1y ago
Dunning Kruger would have us think so. Also, most people who are good at something let their actions speak.
- hluska 1y ago
  Tennis is competitive though and unlike golf there’s no form of handicap. When it comes to pick up tennis, it’s not fun playing against someone way below or way above your level. I refer to myself as mediocre at tennis so I can play against people who are around my level. People who are good refer to themselves as being good so that everyone enjoys themselves (and improves) on a court. The difference between good and mediocre is significant. To the point that I cannot return a good tennis player’s serves. The difference between mediocre and post beginner is just as significant.
  - bruce511 1y ago
    Having played both tennis and golf, I agree. It's a lot harder to play social tennis than social golf. Two nice things about golf - the handicap system let's two players of different level engage in fun competition. (Yes, handicaps can be manipulated, but for the most part aren't. ) Second a very good player can play with a bad player, and both can have fun. The social factor is more important to the fun, and I've enjoyed tight games with people with hugely disparate handicaps. With tennis I always want to play either someone just a little bit better than me. Someone who can help me get a bit better all the time. My enjoyment of the game depends a lot on their performance. Both are enjoyable in their own right.
    - wink 1y ago
      How do you overcome a wrong observation of a local maximum though (e.g. in your club maybe)? I only experienced something like this once, late 90s. We thought of ourselves as pretty ok StarCraft players until we got some visitor to a lan party who basically demolished everyone. This was pre-ladder iirc so you only played a handful of games online.
      - 1y ago

xyzzy123 1y ago

Or how countries with "democratic" in the name invariably are not.

riehwvfbk 1y ago
And few countries are as split into two warring camps as the United States of America.
- theoreticalmal 1y ago
  Where’s the war? I must not be in a conflict zone
  - t-3 1y ago
    Try going outside and attempt to honestly express your opinion of the current President or Israel or immigrants or ${current_political_thing}. Maybe you live in a political monoculture, but most places are not.
    - wredcoll 1y ago
      Mate, people yelling insults at you in public in regards to your political opinions is practically the definition of a functioning democracy.
      - DougN7 1y ago
        Not if it uses fear and intimidation as a tactic.
        wredcoll 1y ago
        Are you technically correct? Yes. Are the majority of people who make these types of complaints thin-skinned right-wingers? Also yes. In my experience, people who actually experience intimidation for their views, like you know, the view that being gay is fine actually, don't go around making these types of complaints. They're out protesting and fighting.

ldjkfkdsjnv 1y ago

Yup. Anytime someone keeps advertising some trait, its probably a cover up. They might not even be aware of it.

GianFabien 1y ago
Perhaps they are subconsciously aware of it. That is why they have to go around muttering affirmations to the contrary.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 1y ago
  Some of the worst behavior ive seen in my life has been done by devout catholics. who themselves cant see the consequences of their actions. and im not knocking religion, i just had to live alot of life to start being alarmed by outspoken moralists.
  - ryandv 1y ago
    > Some of the worst behavior ive seen in my life has been done by devout catholics. Those same "devout Catholics" can also be found identifying as secular "progressives" or whatever other word is trendy and evokes implications of moral superiority and righteousness. The religions and pantheons may differ but the core psychological mechanisms are the same. The devout Catholic knows all the canned responses and hymns by rote, but only when the priest is there to prompt him; he forgets his moral code the second he has stood up from the pews. Analogously the secular progressive will eagerly output all the tokens expected of a "good person" when adequately prompted with contemporary inclusive language; yet they don't appear to be able to keep to their principles in other environments when they aren't being supplied with the exact same context and tokens.
    - wredcoll 1y ago
      What a wildly random series of sentences that never bother making an actual point. Personally, while I'd rather people be good, I'll settle for them pretending really hard.

ryandv 1y ago

> I’m suspicious whenever someone says, “I’m an (adjective) (noun).” Why did you need to say, “I’m a great tennis player,” “I’m a deep thinker,” or “I’m a generous person”? Instead, why not simply play tennis, regardless of how great you are? Or think as deeply as you want? Or be generous? Which is why the whole "identification" fad is bullshit. Why bother identifying as a singer if you cannot sing? Just a continuation of this postmodern delusion that puts the cart before the horse and elevates language and symbols about reality over reality itself.

dylan604 1y ago
Most of the time, you don't have to walk the walk though. With the sports example, you can drop being great at it while talking to people at a bar or dinner party or online as you can't be asked to prove it right then and there. If you claim to be a good singer, you can pretty much do that at any time so that's a bit harder.
wredcoll 1y ago
When people talk about their own identity, they very rarely mean something like "great at singing". I admire your confidence that reality is so easily measured and categorized though. Personally, as I grow older, I find more and more exceptions to things I once thought of as immutable truth.
- ryandv 1y ago
  No, my point is that the concept of identity is nonsense. Show me a proof of the existence of an "identity" and I will furnish you proof of the soul and god.
  - wredcoll 1y ago
    Sure, just as soon as you show me the proof of existence of "thoughts" and that you exist as something other than an illusion in my mind. How about the existence of numbers? The proof of 1+1=2? We humans have words for lots of things that only exist as abstract concepts without a physical embodiment. Identity is one more of those and it's trivial to understand its application to real people.

alwa 1y ago

Honest Achmed, on the other hand—I hear he issues only the most legitimate of certificates from his Used Cars and Certificates Emporium! https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647959 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647959

MichaelZuo 1y ago
Yeah discussing honesty seems pointless in real life considering a much lower bar… avoiding writing provable factual lies on the record… is often not even satisfied by large swathes on the population. Who often get away without any noticeable punishment too. In comparison even a deceiver that says a dozen half truths an hour, without any outright factual lies, seems like a paragon of virtue.

kirubakaran 1y ago

"Open" AI

garbanz0 1y ago

I just say "To be honest" when I want to signal I'm about to say something that someone doesn't want to hear or that is slightly inappropriate

nine_k 1y ago

In general, one's own words are the cheapest, and thus least reliable, form of signaling. If you call yourself "Honest Ed", it's pretty suspicious; if others unironically give you a moniker "Honest Ed", it's high praise. Understatement is something only the renowned can afford; those who suck (or swindle) have to resort to overstatement and seek gullible audience.

dylan604 1y ago
Sometimes people give the names ironically like calling the NFL lineman Tiny

brikym 1y ago

I think that's true of most marketing. The bigger the lie the more shouting has to be done. Peter Thiel mentions that monopoly companies often have the most 'sales' in order to seem competitive. And conversely small competitive companies want to seem large and stable. A bag of lettuce won't have 'healthy' all over the packaging because that's self evident but a bottle or can sugary drink will have all sorts of claims about vitamins there is even a brand called Vitamin Water. Honey Nut Cheerios Heart Healthy Breakfast Cereal. Vitamin Water. Green Hydrogen. Clean Diesel. Patriot Act.

tough 1y ago
Double Speak
- brikym 1y ago
  How did I forget the biggest lie of all time: 'Open' AI

pers0n 1y ago

Sounds like people that claim to be religious or mention they are Christian to gain trust, I lived in the Bible Belt and saw that a lot

jjtheblunt 1y ago
that's everywhere
- yencabulator 1y ago
  Actually, no. It's incredibly rare in the Nordics, which are way more secular. Claiming to be religious there gains you practically nothing, and might lose you some.
  - jjtheblunt 1y ago
    that is also true in wide, but unpredictably located, swaths of America, i can attest. I grew up in a very famously religious suburb of Chicago, and the proudly super church-y family nearby ended up with the father convicted of embezzling from the church. consistent with your nordic point, it seemed to surprise no one (perhaps because most of the area was northwest european recently derived families).
    - tptacek 1y ago
      I'm trying to think of a famously religious suburb of Chicago besides Skokie, which I would not describe as "church-y". Wheaton? I had to look that up.
      - jjtheblunt 1y ago
        wheaton it is. evanston before that as a toddler. you're in oak park? (hi!)
        tptacek 1y ago

mbreese 1y ago

That reminds me of the Guarantee scene from the movie Tommy Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEB7WbTTlu4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEB7WbTTlu4 To briefly summarize (and sanitize), just because someone puts a guarantee on the box doesn't mean they'll stand by it. The guarantee on the box makes you feel warm and toasty, and that's what you bought -- the warm feelings. But if you have a quality product, you don't need to advertise the guarantee... the product is good enough on it's own. (or something like that...)

tough 1y ago
Similarly the -refund, no questions asked- even if its honored by merchants plays on a psychological effect where most people wont ask for a refund (even if they dont use the product) unless its really broken/whatever marketing is the art of manipulation
- beAbU 1y ago
  My father has been a Leatherman guy for as long as I can remember. We were at a gun show or trade fair many years ago, and leatherman had a stall there. They had a guy manning a service station, and the idea was you bring you multitool and they'll oil it, sharpen the blades, tighten screws etc. All free of course. So my dad sends me with his leatherman to stand in the queue at this stall, while he goes to enjoy the rest of the expo. Eventually my turn comes up, I hand over my dad's multitool and the gentleman gets to work servicing it. He beckons to the person behind me, to find out what he wants. This guy walks up and dumps a heap of parts on the bench. His multitool was in literal pieces. It fell off his belt while at speed on a motorcycle or something. The Leatherman Man put down my dad's tool, scraped the heap of scrap off the bench into a bin, reached for a shelf behind him and pulled off a brand new multitool and gave it to this guy, and waved him off. This to me was the most powerful expression of "we got u" I've ever seen from a company, and they don't even put "no questions asked" on the box! Needless to say I'm now also a Leatherman guy.
  - tough 1y ago
    there was a time when apple wasnt a big shot where going to a genius bar felt like this, like your mac could be out of warranty technically but some guy could go above and beyond to try and fix it. great customer service is a great hack for retention

bloomingeek 1y ago

I think most people get taken advantage of at a car dealership because they don't understand that they must do their homework on what the value is of the vehicle they're interested in, understand the financing, knowing what the extended warranty is worth and always walk away from pressure salesmanship. If something is confusing, have them print out an offer on the vehicle and take it to someone for help. If they don't want to do that, walk! If the buyer remembers the dealership wants to make as much money as they can, then it's you against them. Since this is a given, what's on paper counts.

tough 1y ago
or just call every dealership on the country looking for the ones that randomly need to fill their sales quota that month
majormajor 1y ago
The more expensive a transaction, the more crap. Houses are worse than cars! But then if you spend enough more you get into super fancy squads of lawyers territory and a lot more due diligence and contracts. The sweet spot for scams it: * rare enough for the average person that they won't do too many in their life, and so it would be high effort to become an expert * not quite expensive enough that all your potential buyers can lawyer up Kinda funny that we put up with it. It's not adding value to the economy.
yencabulator 1y ago
I'm very much ok with having a used car, and in case that's true for you too, here's my thinking: A private seller may be scamming you, but a professional car salesman is guaranteed to be.

infamousclyde 1y ago

Similarly, there’s a special military unit whose motto is “Facta Non Verba”— deeds, not words. Talk is cheap!