The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I've never watched that show. Heck, until about three weeks ago I thought it was the name of a video game. See, I don't have television or cable or satellite etc., so I'm out of touch and don't have my finger on the pulse of popular culture.

But I do get crusutton's excellent application of the simile.

Its the modern equivalent of Dallas or Denver Clan in a fantasy world. Entertaing sure but you dont miss anything.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I've never watched that show. Heck, until about three weeks ago I thought it was the name of a video game. See, I don't have television or cable or satellite etc., so I'm out of touch and don't have my finger on the pulse of popular culture.

But I do get crusutton's excellent application of the simile.

Its the modern equivalent of Dallas or Denver Clan in a fantasy world. Entertaing sure but you dont miss anything.

[:D] That one I saw when it premiered before realizing it was just a soap opera.

My sister watched All My Children (daytime soap opera in USA), started working, got married, worked, got laid off & had kids then. Looked at it again and found after 17 years she had not missed anything!! [:D]

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I've never watched that show. Heck, until about three weeks ago I thought it was the name of a video game. See, I don't have television or cable or satellite etc., so I'm out of touch and don't have my finger on the pulse of popular culture.

But I do get crusutton's excellent application of the simile.

Its the modern equivalent of Dallas or Denver Clan in a fantasy world. Entertaing sure but you dont miss anything.

[:D] That one I saw when it premiered before realizing it was just a soap opera.

My sister watched All My Children (daytime soap opera in USA), started working, got married, worked, got laid off & had kids then. Looked at it again and found after 17 years she had not missed anything!! [:D]

At some point in those 2 decades they probably started using the original script with the names changed ;]

[CaptBeefheart]

Regarding "Thrones," I stopped reading sometime during the third or fourth book. I like my good vs. evil stories simple, and Martin killed the only sympathetic, honorable character in the first book. And don't get me started on the economy in that Hobbesian wasteland--there's zero economic basis for all of those castles (especially with a seven-year winter). Regarding that continent to the east, though, bits of it are somewhat civilized and I'd be emigrating there posthaste.

[Time to get another off-topic discussion going to confuse the enemy. [;)] ]

Back to the game, I think it was a good move not to go off-mission and chase after the mini-KB. There will be time enough later to chip away at his naval forces.

Cheers,
CC

[poodlebrain]

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

The books are better. Truly dark medival fantasy series.

My old tired eyes read this a "The boobs are better." Strangely enough both are true.

[poodlebrain]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

A word about commander ratings.

As you can tell, I'm having alot of fun in this this match, and overall I am pleased with where things stand as of August 1943 and how Thin Man (a weird-looking but important operation) is going thus far.

But I am aware that there are certain players that would have jumped on the chance to strike Mini KB. Certain players would have enjoyed the challenge of using flank speed to deal a decisive blow. Other players (me, with hand raised) erred on the side of not taking the chance, weighing factors and concluding there was too great to the merchantmen).

Player aggression ranges from timid to reckless, as do commander ratings in the game.

I think the situation with Fletcher, Turner, Ghormley and Vandegrift at Guadalcanal had to be one of the most interesting studies in commander personalities and decision making of the Pacific War. I bet there are some fascinating doctoral theses that deal with that in amazing detail.

Timing is also a key factor in the success or failure of aggressive action. In hindsight you likely could have been successful seeking to destroy the mini-KB if you had done so immediately upon the Death Star's arrival in the Marshalls knowing that the Japanese would not try to link the mini-KB with the KB ouch, what a run on sentence). You did not know that the Japanese would allow the mini-KB to operate outside support range of the KB, and by the time you could reasonably conclude the opportunity was there the chances for success were based on guessing where the mini-KB would go.

Additionally, aggressiveness is a matter of perspective. I think the operation to resupply the Marshalls, reposition troops and invade strongly defended bases is plenty aggressive. Some are just not satisfied it was aggressive enough. I find it amusing they could question you aggressiveness after your invasion of Sumatra, and the fact you are recovering from the losses sustained in that campaign.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

A word about commander ratings.

As you can tell, I'm having alot of fun in this this match, and overall I am pleased with where things stand as of August 1943 and how Thin Man (a weird-looking but important operation) is going thus far.

But I am aware that there are certain players that would have jumped on the chance to strike Mini KB. Certain players would have enjoyed the challenge of using flank speed to deal a decisive blow. Other players (me, with hand raised) erred on the side of not taking the chance, weighing factors and concluding there was too great to the merchantmen).

Player aggression ranges from timid to reckless, as do commander ratings in the game.

I think the situation with Fletcher, Turner, Ghormley and Vandegrift at Guadalcanal had to be one of the most interesting studies in commander personalities and decision making of the Pacific War. I bet there are some fascinating doctoral theses that deal with that in amazing detail.

While I am one of the "certain players" who strongly advocated for hitting the KB I do completely understand your situation. The players know their game and their opponent better than we ever can from the center field bleachers. While I am yelling for the steal to third and then the suicide squeeze you're calmly hitting a deep sac fly that achieves nearly as much without half of the danger (or excitement). I get that.

This was also set up by John for some odd reason to draw you away. I personally consider that kind of dangling of very important IJN assets a bit of a mistake in this case because the USN could've taken them all down with little trouble. Maybe he would've got the bag of transports and an important hit on the CVs from a stray DB, and maybe that would've led to a CV clash where he had an advantage. Who knows?

Playing Japan again I realize even more the different kinds of mindsets needed to play both sides. I loved the leisurely pace of the Allies, the ability to make unusual and unpredictable decisions, to lead the dance after 42, and through a spin or dip to keep your partner just that much more on their toes. In this one I understand your view that you lead this dance, and I agree. You have a much more balanced approach and this op shows that you will also play the psychological game that will lead your opponent most likely to do something rash again.

[Encircled]

Ditto

You could have attacked the Mini-KB, but you've have done what you had to do, with minimal losses whilst John has burned a shed load of fuel.

He's used flank speed as well I think, so his systems damage will need some repair time, plus the torp hit on a fleet CV

[JohnDillworth]

So I fully understand if John is feeling awesome at the moment (hey, he just took his cavalry division on a gallop around the Army of the Potomoc, generating favorable press and making General Meade look clumsy). That's exactly the feeling I'd have in his place.

It reminds me of the expression Pigeon Chess:
" it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory."

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I've never watched that show. Heck, until about three weeks ago I thought it was the name of a video game. See, I don't have television or cable or satellite etc., so I'm out of touch and don't have my finger on the pulse of popular culture.

But I do get crusutton's excellent application of the simile.

Its the modern equivalent of Dallas or Denver Clan in a fantasy world. Entertaing sure but you dont miss anything.

[:D] That one I saw when it premiered before realizing it was just a soap opera.

My sister watched All My Children (daytime soap opera in USA), started working, got married, worked, got laid off & had kids then. Looked at it again and found after 17 years she had not missed anything!! [:D]

*sigh* I really envy you. I would have loved to live in the 60/70s

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

*sigh* I really envy you. I would have loved to live in the 60/70s

Your English is great, so if you haven't you should watch the movie "Dazed and Confused." It takes place on the last day of school in 1976 (I graduated HS a week later than the movie), and is spot on in myriad ways as to how it was to be an American teen in the 70s. It's a classic.

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

*sigh* I really envy you. I would have loved to live in the 60/70s

Your English is great, so if you haven't you should watch the movie "Dazed and Confused." It takes place on the last day of school in 1976 (I graduated HS a week later than the movie), and is spot on in myriad ways as to how it was to be an American teen in the 70s. It's a classic.

Ola, I have not seen that one indeed. Thank you very much for the tip [:)]

[HansBolter]

The TV series Wonder Years, about growing up in the '60s, is like a slice right out of my life.

I'm a year older than the moose, having graduated HS in '75.

[Canoerebel]

I was born in 1960, so I reached adulthood during that era. The music of the time really was phenomenal, but other than that it seemed like a pretty turbulent and disturbed period. Political and social unrest was pretty pronounced, leading to the run of assassinations (JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King), the Vietnam War was polarizing and difficult and sad, politics was a mess, society in many ways was a mess. We were in a period of transition, so things were unsettled.

I few years ago (roughly 2010), I took a group of 20-somethings on a long hike in a wilderness area. On the drive home, one of them asked me if I had ever seen a time as unsettled and divisive as this now. I thought back to the Civil War, to the Jim Crowe ere (which included pretty common lynchings), to the '60s with all the protests and assassinations, to the '70s with political turmoil, gas lines, etc.) and I laughed and told them, "These are good times."

To clarify: I've never had it "bad." I've been very fortunate to live in a time and place in which there's has been mostly peace and relative tranquility. I've been mostly free to do what I wanted and to go where I wished with who I want. What's there to complain about? (Other than John's Banzai!, I mean.)

[Capt. Harlock]

That one I saw when it premiered before realizing it was just a soap opera.

My sister watched All My Children (daytime soap opera in USA), started working, got married, worked, got laid off & had kids then. Looked at it again and found after 17 years she had not missed anything!!


*sigh* I really envy you. I would have loved to live in the 60/70s

The good news: I lived in the 60/70s. The bad news: my father forbade a television set in the house. (I had to go elsewhere to watch Neil Armstrong step onto the Moon.)

[poodlebrain]

Vintage 1959 here. I think the 60s and 70s were turbulent for several reasons. One which is overlooked is how we were coming to terms with the requirements of being the leading nation in the aftermath of WWII. People realized there were costs associated with being able to set and influence world events. And there were conflicts, most obviously generational, over the willingness to bear the costs.

To top that off, challenges to American economic dominance were arising in Germany, Japan and other countries who were recovering from the effects of WWII. This made it difficult for young adults to remain in the communities they grew up. So there was a generational schism based on changing expectations when it came to chasing the American Dream if not a major revision in what the American Dream even meant.

[Canoerebel]

Not to mentioned the evolution into a new racial paradigm in which we were trying to make "all men are created equal" a reality, and the sexual revolution. Anytime there is change, there is friction, so friction there was.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

*sigh* I really envy you. I would have loved to live in the 60/70s

Your English is great, so if you haven't you should watch the movie "Dazed and Confused." It takes place on the last day of school in 1976 (I graduated HS a week later than the movie), and is spot on in myriad ways as to how it was to be an American teen in the 70s. It's a classic.

Ola, I have not seen that one indeed. Thank you very much for the tip [:)]

It's also notable for being, I'm pretty sure, the first major movie role for both Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey. The latter's "all right, all right, all right" catch-phrase was born in that movie. Affleck plays a total tool of a bully.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

The TV series Wonder Years, about growing up in the '60s, is like a slice right out of my life.

I'm a year older than the moose, having graduated HS in '75.

So how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I was born in 1960, so I reached adulthood during that era. The music of the time really was phenomenal, but other than that it seemed like a pretty turbulent and disturbed period. Political and social unrest was pretty pronounced, leading to the run of assassinations (JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King), the Vietnam War was polarizing and difficult and sad, politics was a mess, society in many ways was a mess. We were in a period of transition, so things were unsettled.

I few years ago (roughly 2010), I took a group of 20-somethings on a long hike in a wilderness area. On the drive home, one of them asked me if I had ever seen a time as unsettled and divisive as this now. I thought back to the Civil War, to the Jim Crowe ere (which included pretty common lynchings), to the '60s with all the protests and assassinations, to the '70s with political turmoil, gas lines, etc.) and I laughed and told them, "These are good times."

To clarify: I've never had it "bad." I've been very fortunate to live in a time and place in which there's has been mostly peace and relative tranquility. I've been mostly free to do what I wanted and to go where I wished with who I want. What's there to complain about? (Other than John's Banzai!, I mean.)

I recently tried to describe the draft to a millennial. I don't recommend it if you have no patience.