greedo

12 ms·

211.
by greedo 10mo ago
The Soviets had a lot of Western assistance with industrializing. Ford in particular played a huge role in the Gorky factories. The Wehrmacht lost because numbers kind of matter in war. When you look at the natural resources Russia had, the
212.
by greedo 10mo ago
It's fascinating to read how few nuclear bombs we actually had until the 1950's. There was real concern that we would need more than two for Japan, and really had none ready after Fat Man and Little Boy were expended. Almost as fa
213.
by greedo 10mo ago
Of course avoiding the Cold War would have been beneficial to humanity, but it wasn't realistic considering the state of the world at the time.
214.
by greedo 10mo ago
Stalin was undoubtedly evil with the blood of millions on his hands. I don't think that the West had any chance to liberate the Soviet bloc (I'm assuming what you meant is the Warsaw Pact countries). The Red Army was simply too bi
215.
by greedo 10mo ago
The Soviets would have developed the atomic bomb (and eventually the hydrogen bomb). This simply accelerated their development. And considering that for the first decade after the end of WW2 the US considered and threatened the USSR with nu
216.
by greedo 10mo ago
'Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down' was a central tenet of NATO from its founding.
217.
by greedo 10mo ago
The US provided lip service to the idea, but quickly became paranoid about the threat of world wide communism and changed its tune relatively quickly. In the places where this wasn't a factor, it wasn't altruism by any stretch, bu
218.
by greedo 11mo ago
When I graduated HS in 1982, the top 1% had 34.7% percent of the wealth. Today, the top 1% has 71.1%. So yeah, I'd say he's spot on. There have been a few dips and valleys, but the trend line is pretty strong.
219.
by greedo 11mo ago
Nebraska has a unicameral legislature that isn't in session year round. Pay is $12k/year (with travel per diem). This low salary leads to an older cohort of senators, either retired or wealthy enough to work part time. This low sa
220.
by greedo 11mo ago
Lord Acton has a few words about power etc. I don't think most people selected ala Cincinnatus for greatness have the ability to demure when venturing into government at high levels. Quid Pro Quo...
221.
by greedo 11mo ago
So you're saying we currently have a Congress with financial sense?
222.
by greedo 11mo ago
This is highly unlikely. Imagine OpenAI struggling, and in year 4 of this "commitment" call upon the lenders to provide over $100B in capital. The lenders will definitely have recourse if the risk is too high. Otherwise this would
223.
by greedo 11mo ago
That's not what OpenAI announced. They said initial spend would be $100B, and I'm sure until the ink is dry on each contract, that they can change their mind at any time. No business is going to be placing ironclad commitments fou
224.
by greedo 11mo ago
OpenAI doesn't have $500 billion in commitments lined up, it's promising to spend that much over 5 years... That's a helluva big difference than having $500B in revenue incoming.
225.
by greedo 11mo ago
I was extrapolating a lower cost version of Gorgon Stare. I remember when Rivet Joint first came on line and it was possible to track Warsaw Pact units as they traveled, and you could extrapolate their C3 units as well as their POL supplies
226.
by greedo 11mo ago
If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. - Cardinal Richelieu
227.
by greedo 11mo ago
Drive a white Altima across I20 from Abilene to Shreveport. Be a good boy and drive within the speed limit. You'll get pulled over for suspicion of being a drug mule. Of course you're innocent, but if you decline to allow them to
228.
by greedo 11mo ago
To quote Marlow Stanfield, "You want it to be one way. But it's the other way." In the US electoral system, voting third party doesn't send a signal. It throws away your vote. Let's take a look at what voting third
229.
by greedo 11mo ago
When have there ever been "civil disruptions" due to a low minimum wage in the US? Federal minimum wage has been underwater all of my life. If the minimum wage law had any teeth (requiring Congress to stop fellating business owner
230.
by greedo 11mo ago
That's why all of these efforts to corrode civil liberties needs to be fought and contested by both sides. Otherwise the ratcheting effect makes if impossible to reclaim these liberties.
231.
by greedo 11mo ago
Exactly. Witness how Texas has failed to provide emails between Musk and the governor... Well, they released them, but they were redacted 99.99%.
232.
by greedo 11mo ago
Technology is going to change a lot of things... Imagine a drone swarm that follows you wherever you go. Tracking and photographing every step you take in public. When you go into a building, a ground drone follows you in, notes where you&#
233.
by greedo 11mo ago
It's a huge design space but the sea is a harsh mistress. Look at sonobuoys for example; some are passive, just using a hydrophone and relaying any signals via UHF/VHF and others are active where they ping and then relay signals.
234.
by greedo 11mo ago
"Somehow we all did ok..." This is an anecdotal fallacy. We also did fine without seatbelts, with parents who smoked, with open containers in cars, with DDT sprayed in our neighborhoods. Until we realized that was crazy. Not all i
235.
by greedo 11mo ago
How is a small drone, with limited power and a small sensor suite going to detect the quietest ships in the ocean? And then transmit tracking data? SOSUS is basically gone since the USN hates AWS work (much like the Air Force hates CAS). IU
236.
by greedo 11mo ago
How is a slow, lightly armed drone going to damage a nuclear submarine that can both outrun and outdive it?
237.
by greedo 11mo ago
It's dangerous to extrapolate much from the performance of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea. While Ukraine has had remarkable success in almost completely shutting down Russian naval activity in the Black Sea, it's not all due to
238.
by greedo 11mo ago
I think you're basing your opinion of the overall Soviet warplan on a single plan. I'm sure the Soviets had plans for a conventional war in Western Europe. I'm sure they also had plans for invading Australia, just like the US
239.
by greedo 1y ago
This is counter to both SIOP and what we've found out in the Warsaw Pact archives and from researchers who have been able to interview former Soviet officers and officials. Just a back of the napkin calculation showed how silly the ide
240.
by greedo 1y ago
You've got it reversed... Soviet doctrine (not Russian) was to use tactical nuclear weapons immediately during their attempt to invade West Germany and march to the Atlantic.

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