[STICKY] UH Spoiler/Snippet Index [2018-08-28]

TFLYTSNBN wrote:What happenned to Nimitz1923PD?

He had problems toning down his "rhetoric" and was booted from the forum.

Joat42 wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:What happenned to Nimitz1923PD?

He had problems toning down his "rhetoric" and was booted from the forum.

Interesting how only conservatives have that problem on the Weber forums.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:

Joat42 wrote: SNIP
He had problems toning down his "rhetoric" and was booted from the forum.

Interesting how only conservatives have that problem on the Weber forums.

IIRC he was being deeply unpleasant to all and sundry, and then he just seemed to go totally mad and challenged Duckk!!

Duckk took up his offer... QED

TFLYTSNBN wrote:

Joat42"[quote="TFLYTSNBN wrote:What happenned to Nimitz1923PD?

He had problems toning down his "rhetoric" and was booted from the forum.

Interesting how only conservatives have that problem on the Weber forums.[/quote]


Don't knock all conservatives. I happen to be one. But I also try very hard to keep politics off of these types of sites too.

saber964 wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:What happenned to Nimitz1923PD?

Joat42 wrote:He had problems toning down his "rhetoric" and was booted from the forum.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:Interesting how only conservatives have that problem on the Weber forums.

Don't knock all conservatives. I happen to be one. But I also try very hard to keep politics off of these types of sites too.

My own politics do not align perfectly with those of anyone else in the entire world (including, so nearly as I can tell after 20 or 30 years, my beloved wife's ). The same is true in a collective sense where my readers are concerned, both in terms of your own politics and mine and your political differences with one another.

This minor, sometimes inconvenient fact of human nature is, I think it is a good, natural, and important thing, since it is only through differences of opinion that opinions can be changed. I also grasp that it is as ineradicable part of being human as breathing, although it would appear of late that certain of my fellow purveyors of fictional universes fail to grasp it.

All my readers, of any political persuasion are welcome on these forums, but we expect a certain degree of etiquette out of all of you, whether you are conservatives, liberals, moderates (a vanishing breed, I know), anarchists, monarchists, kritarchists, antinatalists, corporatists, anarcho-primitivists . . . well, you get the idea.

There is, however, an explicitly political forum for those who want to go there or to take threads there. The rhetoric which is allowed there is considerably rougher than that which will be tolerated on the other forums, and there are 3 main reasons for that:

(1) I'm the author, this is my site, and I don't like people who spew vitriol on others, even in retaliation. It is, in my opinion, always a form of verbal intimidation. It is discourteous. It engenders still greater incivility in all involved. And, to put it as succinctly as possible, It Really Pisses Me Off. <ahem>

(2) I believe, as I've said in other forums recently, in the inclusivity of the fannish community. Science-fiction, especially, is supposed to be a genre of ideas, and one cannot have a reasonable discussion of ideas --- whether political ideas or any other sort --- with someone who is too busy screaming at you to listen. Or when someone else's diatribes are sucking all of the oxygen out of the room and no one any longer wants to hang around long enough to listen even if someone willing to be reasonable should happen along.

(3) While history, real life politics, my own political and philosophical views, my study of history, and my own experiences in dealing with government entities, political parties, and life in general over the last 60 or so years shape my writing and the stories I choose to tell, they are stories. I attempt, sometimes with a greater degree of success than at other times, to be respectful of almost any political philosophy so long as the people who hold it are sincere. There are some political, social, and religious ideologies and systems which I find just plain evil, and I don't shy away from portraying them as such, yet once upon a time people were able to remember that someone who disagreed with them might simply be wrong and not a malevolent demon come from the nether depths of Hell to wreak havoc on all that is self-evidently (of course) Just, Pure, Approved by God, and Nonfattening. But however that may be, and while I may sometimes fail to treat all sides of every argument or political divide in my stories with equally scrupulous balance, they are still stories. Readers should feel totally free to vent on individual characters for their actions, beliefs, or even their halitosis, but beating each other up over real life political differences while theoretically discussing a fictional universe is neither warranted, nor courteous, nor constructive.

I understand all about not leaving the bandwidth to Those Terrible People On The Other Side (whoever they may be at any given moment), and the truth is that I sympathize with that view. In fact, that's one reason we have the Politics Forum. I simply don't intend to tolerate vituperation and ad hominem attacks on any of the other forums.

If any of my readers have an issue with that which is sufficient for them to avoid the forums completely, that is obvious his, her, or their right, and I will not be offended. In the meantime, Duckk (and I) will enforce a minimal standard of courtesy.

And if anyone wants a fuller exposition of my views on the politicization of fandom and society in general, you are welcome to look at Facebook and my comments following John Ringo's disinvitation from ConCarolinas. Which, BTW, seems to be turning into a case in point in favor of courteous and civil engagement with an issue rather than simply seeing who can scream the loudest.

Just sayin'.

runsforcelery wrote:***Snip***

(3) While history, real life politics, my own political and philosophical views, my study of history, and my own experiences in dealing with government entities, political parties, and life in general over the last 60 or so years shape my writing and the stories I choose to tell, they are stories. I attempt, sometimes with a greater degree of success than at other times, to be respectful of almost any political philosophy so long as the people who hold it are sincere. There are some political, social, and religious ideologies and systems which I find just plain evil, and I don't shy away from portraying them as such, yet once upon a time people were able to remember that someone who disagreed with them might simply be wrong and not a malevolent demon come from the nether depths of Hell to wreak havoc on all that is self-evidently (of course) Just, Pure, Approved by God, and Nonfattening. But however that may be, and while I may sometimes fail to treat all sides of every argument or political divide in my stories with equally scrupulous balance, they are still stories. Readers should feel totally free to vent on individual characters for their actions, beliefs, or even their halitosis, but beating each other up over real life political differences while theoretically discussing a fictional universe is neither warranted, nor courteous, nor constructive.

***Snip***

It should be noted as an example that until very recently in human history (less than the most recent 100 years)*, and throughout all of human prehistory, fat was a good thing. As Jonathan Cresswell and Scott Washburn wrote in Eric Flint's 1632 universe:

Ring of Fire, When the Chips are Down wrote:"If we don't get people to plant the seed potatoes by this spring, won't they just rot anyway?" said Melissa. "It took Frederick the Great years to make them do it. Better the carrot than the stick—even better carrot sticks, of course . . ." Melissa still hadn't quite made the mental adjustment from calories make people fat to calories allow people to survive. "But junk food's powerful stuff—it conquered the world in our time, and they won't have any built-up immunity to it. Now, we can't spare sugar for anything nonessential—"

Italics are the authors'.

* Even today, if we look at the entire human population of the Earth, not just the population of countries that have an abundance of food, for most of humanity, fat is still a good thing.

One would think the non mandatory crew would be evacuated on half or more of the life pods and all sub craft before the BC and CA CL went into battle. Pursers, chef's, marines, Night shift, etc...

Lord Skimper wrote:One would think the non mandatory crew would be evacuated on half or more of the life pods and all sub craft before the BC and CA CL went into battle. Pursers, chef's, marines, Night shift, etc...

This thread isn't really the right forum for this discussion, but your idea is kind of bad for several reasons.

1. Who picks up the evacuated crew if the ships considers the best action is to retreat after a while?
2. All crew not directly participating in fighting the ship are usually assigned to damage parties or as backups for injured crew.
3. All crew is mandatory, no professional navy or army staffs their fighting vehicles with unnecessary personnel because it eats into volume that can used for improving the battle-worthiness.
4. Considering that a battle can run for days, the logistics for finding your crew again gets a big iffy.
5. Pods and crafts doesn't have stealth which means you will give away your position if you launch them. Especially considering that pods have beacons.
6. It's bad for morale.

Lord Skimper wrote:One would think the non mandatory crew would be evacuated on half or more of the life pods and all sub craft before the BC and CA CL went into battle. Pursers, chef's, marines, Night shift, etc...

This so stupid Skimper even for you. (And that's saying something) There are NO and I do mean NO excessive personnel aboard a ship of war. Everyone is needed and used. Even cooks are used to prepare food to be taken or picked up by GQ stations or people are rotated so others can sleep or relax. I have been personally at General Quarters for 19 straight hours during Desert Storm. FYI U.S. Navy veteran.

saber964 wrote:

Lord Skimper wrote:One would think the non mandatory crew would be evacuated on half or more of the life pods and all sub craft before the BC and CA CL went into battle. Pursers, chef's, marines, Night shift, etc...

This so stupid Skimper even for you. (And that's saying something) There are NO and I do mean NO excessive personnel aboard a ship of war. Everyone is needed and used. Even cooks are used to prepare food to be taken or picked up by GQ stations or people are rotated so others can sleep or relax. I have been personally at General Quarters for 19 straight hours during Desert Storm. FYI U.S. Navy veteran.

************

Dittos

On current USN vessels, supply clerks, Disbursing clerks and Admin types (PN/YN's) report to assigned Damage Control stations.
All personnel onboard have (1) a "normal" work assignment location, and (2) a GQ (Battle Stations/General Quarters) assignment.
The engineering and weapons spaces are normally "double-watched" at GQ and other engineering watchstanders can be rotated in from the Damage Control parties depending on qualifications.

As noted by other Vets, there are no excess personnel onboard ship (with possible exception of Airdales)

-- Stewart
(20 yrs USN)
(My shoes were black/My shirt was blue/My parents were married to each other/ I worked for a living