h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Supernatural forces are in action here, I think.,, it is not ME, I didn't do it

oh yes, I knew about that
but no first hand experience. (as you know i can get defensive about it especially when people think it's just ordering people around and blindly following orders)

Wot is amazing is when yous get an email telling you you said something yous can't remember using words yous never use.

But what do I know. well , hello, hello, hello

Meanwhile, the incident itself has faded from the consciousness of millions of people who always thought Terry Jones was a member of Monty Python. They must have thought he had gone around the bend...

Yep faded, I can't remember it. Did I say my HDD failed leaving me pc-less. I've had to pays loads of money for a computer chappie to diagnose the fault and get it going enough to be able to clone it.

Good eh, I haven't hads any sleep for days and only spent tirty mins a day on the internet so I can't remember a thing.

I'm better now, and I has a dinkies

Glad to hear it!

Philosophy on the "phantom yikester", perhaps someone new to to the job (or merely new on the block) erring on the side of caution, or merely suffering from a transient lapse of capacity on the issue.

For my own part, if its nothing worse than what I've seen on BBC television, I figure its probably okay.

Philosophy can be a good thing, though I prefer not to hear the philosophies of nutters.

Hi Paulh,

What lovely sentiments. Meditation is what I like to call it.

Go well,

Christiane

Monday 11/X/2010 24.37(?)

I was kidding about the nutters, Christiane. I sometimes learn something even from them.

re 82:

i feel a bit sorry for posting 70, sho, because we are actually talking about two things: waters' experience as a son that lost his father and the experience of being a soldier oneself

as for the military it has changed a lot over the years, i know, but lets' face it: in the end the fact is that the military trains people to go out to kill or to be killed

not sure this will ever change. we've had soldiers going to war since we emerged from the sea or at least since we came down from the trees, which was a bad move to begin with, i reckon

re 84:

i'm confused here, paulh. are you saying terry jones was *not* a member of monty python's flying circus

Two people with the same name, Pierce. One of them was with Monty Python, the other was threatening to burn copies of the Koran. This might well have confused people who didn't look beyond the headlines.

re: 93

"...kill or be killed..."

...not necessarily.




From a favorite "Black Sheep Squadron" episode, inspired by the real life exploits of WW II flying ace, "Pappy Boyington"

Scenario, a Japanese commando force in a surprise raid had taken over The Black Sheep Squadrons base of operations, seized the command center. A running battle to regain control of the base was under way. Boyington put in a call for support, a C47 transport plan responded, taxied to a halt at the end of the runway opposite the Japanese troops. An M60 machine gunner dropped out of the bottom of the plane, went in to prone position, assembled the tripod, pintle, traversing and elevation unit, mounted the gun, all in a little under 60 seconds. Having the Japanese framed against a 20 foot wall, he opened fire, fanning in elevation in front of the Japanese, who reversed direction and began running in the other direction. The M60 gunner, repeated the process, fanning in elevation in front of the Japanese again. The Japanese stopped abruptly and surrendered. The engagement was won in only about 2 minutes total. The dramatization was a training film quality presentation on both weapon handling and tactics, suitable for training troops.




https://id.bbc.co.uk/users/signedout?ptrt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fdna%2Fh2g2%2Fbrunel%2FU10713001&target_resource=http%3A%2F%2Fidentity%2Fpolicies%2Fdna%2Fadu






The American Civil War:

Washington, DC and Richmond, VA, are only a little over 20 miles apart. I could easily walk the course, breakfast in Richmond, lunch at the halfway point, supper in Washington, DC, in a single day. Yet for 3 years, neither side was willing to attempt to force their way to the opposing capital, which give one some idea how hellishly taut a deterrence game was being played.

Apologies for the missing 'e' in "C47 transport plan[e] and the missing 's' in "which give[s] one".

I think that nations fight wars for more than one reason. Some feel aggrived or shortchanged by fate, arguing that the territory owned by other nations rightfully belongs to them, hence they raise armies and try to seize that territory. Others find themselves being invaded, so they raise armies to repel the invaders. If the invaders won't curb their land-grabbing ways without bloodshed, then as many of their warriors will be killed as it takes to deter them.

So, if you have armed your nation in order to deter invaders, then killing is a tool, but not the only tool. Negotiating a treaty that permanently keeps the other guys out of your space is the real issue.

If you have armed your nation in order to expand the size of your empire, it would make little sense to kill the people who produce the invaded nations' bounty, whether it be agricultural produce or the baskets/fabrics/etc. that come from their artisans or factories. Don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. If the invaded nations are sitting on rich deposits of precious metals or coal or oil, you'll still need to have people around who can dig these things out of the ground for you.

In the ancient world, slavery was a handy thing for conquering peoples to have as an option for the people they conquered. You have to feed and clothe slaves, of course, but paying them salaries is not a requirement. The work they can do is lost if you kill them.
So, they're more valuable alive than dead.

Do you really have to kill your opponents' soldiers anyway? Isn't it enough to wound them so they can't fight any more?

There is also such a thing as revenge war. This can be extremely ugly and lethal. The perpetrators don't really *want* their opponents to be productive in the postwar period.

So, what does it take to keep your potential opponents contained so they don't try to invade you? Is the balance of power a useful concept? Why do young men, who have their entire lives ahead of them, choose to become soldiers? Is it the intensity of experience that they would not find anywhere else? Do they want to prove themselves worthy in the most challenging arena that there is? Are they crazy? Do they desperately need work, and can't find it anywhere except in the military?

These days, at least with the responsible powers, it's about deterrence first and martial action only if deterrence fails. As a matter of fact, it's unlawful these days to wage war without United Nations sanction.

In the beginning, war was nothing more than banditry and brigandage, these days, the law on issues like that, and for that matter, taking life, is just the same in wartime as it is peace time.

Enslavement was one of the economic motives for warfare in pre-industrial times, Julius Caesar, for example, in the aftermath of the Gallic Wars, boasted that he had killed a million and enslaved a million, and the provision of a million laborers to serve Rome was one of the things that accounted for his popularity. Since the industrial revolution, though, a slave economy simply cannot compete with a machine economy.



Will continue this on the last three paragraphs of post 98 when I get back.

Take your time. I enjoy reading what you have to say.