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Comment: Inside the floating dock with the Sea Shadow (Score 1) 124

by Luminary Crush (#39839755) Attached to: Navy To Auction Stealth Ship

Pretty cool. The ship was locked up though, so I only got to check out the outside. It's bigger than you'd think.

Sea Shadow in the floating dock

From what I understand they tried to find a museum for the ship but there were no takers. The dock was in rusty/poor condition, but the ship looked garage-kept ;-)

Comment: Re:french military victories (Score 1) 600

by Luminary Crush (#38936173) Attached to: India Turns Down American Fighter Jets, Buys From France

This is complete nonsense. There were more Nazi sympathizers in the US than in France at the time. Some of our 'captains of industry' were helping Germany build it's war machine.

When defeat was inevitable some in France looked around themselves - the British had been decimated on land and had retreated to their island. The US was uninterested. On France's borders were fascist Germany, fascist Spain, fascist Italy, aloof Switzerland and occupied territory. It looked as though Britain would fall quickly (few thought they could hold on alone as they did at the time) and that the new world order would be one of fascism or communism. It was a dark day, and in those times some people will choose a dark side versus the unknown.

And then come the opportunists - you have those kind in any country, who will gravitate to the winning side in hopes for gains for themselves.

Comment: Re:french military victories (Score 1) 600

by Luminary Crush (#38936009) Attached to: India Turns Down American Fighter Jets, Buys From France

Well...not really. The "Schlieffen Plan" was the move through the Netherlands and Belgian plain, but that was not really what happened in WW2 - it was not the 'second time Germany pulled the same trick'. In WW2 the Germans 'faked' the Schlieffen Plan and lured the French and British into a trap.

The Schlieffen plan *WAS* anticipated by the French and British, and they placed the best of their units along the Belgian border. The Belgians were supposed to have allowed French and British troops to move into Belgium into forward prepared positions, but Belgium decided to declare neutrality until invaded (in some foolish hope that Germany would prefer to pound it's head against the French Maginot Line to the south instead). Silly Belgians.

As soon as Germany invaded Belgium the French troops were allowed to cross the border, but now were not able to reach their designated defensive positions (Germany having gotten a head start) and had to have meeting engagements in the field (losing the defender advantage).

However, THIS was the trick. The main German effort was planned to occur through the forests just to the NORTH of the Maginot Line, but also SOUTH of the more open land considered better suited for the warfare. The French and British thought the Ardennes forest was impassable to tanks, and as such put 2nd class divisions (with very few tanks) and reserve troops guarding it. So, as the British and French raced into Belgium to encounter what they thought was the main German attack (in a Schlieffen Plan replay), the real thrust was happening to the south of them. They were soon caught in a salient - a 'bulge' - and quickly the best Allied units were vulnerable to being cut off.

Despite being warned by their own reconnaissance aircraft and captured plans from a downed German aircraft, they ignored the Ardennes until it was too late. By then the Germans had a solid advance going, which thereafter cut off the Allied troops with amazing speed for the time (eg Blitzkrieg).. then there was Dunkerque and the loss of all the equipment of two major armies. 300,000 troops did manage to escape, including 100,000 French.

Now that the Germans had knocked out the British Army and defeated the best of the French units in the north, they turned south. They met occasional stiff resistance but now they severely outnumbered the French units and the end was only a matter of time.

Contrary to some popular beliefs, the Maginot Line was never breached from the front (once surrounded a few smaller forts were captured) and the French had more tanks with better armor and guns than the Germans did. The defeat was really one of leadership, strategy and tactics.

Comment: VMware and Citrix (Score 1) 523

by Luminary Crush (#37125920) Attached to: Why PCs Trump iPads For User Innovation

... and several other vendors deliver desktops and apps to end-user devices remotely and increasingly efficiently. TFA is on the wrong side of history - IT will own and control the apps "locked down" and delivered remotely, device-independently. Administration of the endpoint device is a nightmare, and through VDI and app delivery endpoint management is becoming nearly irrelevant as these technologies improve. In fact, the end point becomes irrelevant - the always-on, use anywhere application service is coming (just don't say "cloud" because I'm tired of hearing it).

All your apps are belong to us.

Comment: Re:Bear Grylls don't need no stinkin' GPS (Score 5, Informative) 599

by Luminary Crush (#35094680) Attached to: 'Death By GPS' Increasing In America's Wilderness

... and then he'd pack it in for the day, take the camera crew out for a nice dinner at the nearest steakhouse, check into his hotel and be all fresh for the next day's shoot.

Bear is at best entertainment (think 'fear factor' outdoors), at worst a fraud. A real "survivorman" is Les Stroud, who packs in all his own gear and films everything himself, alone... and actually stays out in the wilderness for the duration.

Unix: Some say the learning curve is steep, but you only have to climb it once. -- Karl Lehenbauer

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