cobysev
@cobysev@lemmy.world
- Comment on Which song is forever linked to a movie for you now? 3 weeks ago:
That’s actually a slow, dark cover song written exclusively for that film. If you listen to the original version by Tears for Fears, it’s a much more energetic, happy-sounding song. You wouldn’t even know it was dark unless you were paying attention to the lyrics.
- Comment on Can I Put it in my Ass? 3 weeks ago:
I think you mean “ow.” The word “owe” has a different meaning, not related to pain.
- Comment on Can I Put it in my Ass? 3 weeks ago:
I thought it was just a typo on the chart, but then OP used it in a comment here as well.
- Comment on what the heck is a pensioner in the UK and why are they the butt of so many jokes ? 3 weeks ago:
In the US, pensions have almost completely gone away, in favor of 401K programs. A pension is (typically) a monthly fixed income given by your former employer for the rest of your life upon retiring from a career.
The 401K program is more like a retirement savings account; you contribute a portion of your paycheck toward it each month and your employer will match your contribution up to a certain pre-designated amount. Whatever money is in that account becomes your own personal “pension” that you live off of after you reach retirement age. Instead of your employer putting aside money to pay retired employees, now you’re responsible for setting aside that money yourself, with a little extra contribution from your company.
Employers prefer the 401K program because they invest a little extra money into you initially, but then they don’t have to pay out a pension for the rest of a former employee’s life. So they save money in the long run. Meanwhile, your retirement depends on you being fiscally responsible early in your career instead of expecting a fixed income to cover you later in life.
- Comment on Who decides when the US goes to "war" 3 weeks ago:
All right, now I’m convinced you’re just a burner account for my wife. You’re still arguing semantics, distracting with irrelevant information, and are willingly misunderstanding instead of contributing to the actual conversation. Looks like you care more about arguing than having an actual productive discussion, so it’s not really worth my time to try and rehash this in even simpler terms for you.
But I will condede, I meant 90 days, not 30. That was an honest slip of the fingers.
- Comment on Who decides when the US goes to "war" 3 weeks ago:
Man, you sound just like my wife. Always arguing semantics when the overall point I’m making is pretty clear. ;) Now it’s my turn to point out the (ridiculous) semantics of the GWOT.
The Global War on Terrorism was a (rather ignorant) blanket statement made by then-president George W. Bush Jr., implying the concept of fighting terrorism across the globe. It had nothing to do with the Iraq War; it actually predates that campaign. It was a direct response to 9/11, with the Iraq War being the first active military campaign justified under it. We’ve been awarded the two GWOT medals for various military campaigns around the globe. I earned the expeditionary medal from a humanitarian deployment to Africa, of all places, and earned the service medal while stationed in Japan. And they’re still being awarded today, even though we’ve completely pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite using the word “war” in the medal’s name, the concept behind it was akin to the “War on Drugs.” It’s not an actual war against a particular nation or people; it’s a war on a concept. How can you fight a concept?!
Terrorism is a very vague word that applies to any situation in which someone uses fear and/or intimidation to get their way. We’ve definitely used that specific definition to justify stepping into situations we had no reason to be involved in. Like Iraq.
Much like the War on Drugs, I’m sure we’ll eventually see that there’s no possible way to win against the concept of terrorism, and we’ll silently phase it out. Heck, we’ve been ordered as of 2021 to start restricting the award of the GWOT-Service medal, so we’re already beginning to phase it out. It was a stupid statement, made by a stupid president who constantly flubbed his words, and shouldn’t be taken at face value.
To your other point, yes, I used the word “just” when referring to the president’s decision. The reason being, it is solely his decision, as the highest ranking leader of the Department of Defense (DoD), to implement the military in “campaigns” across the globe. He does not need anyone’s permission to deploy us.
However, you are correct that the War Powers Act restricts how he uses the military. He can send us out on a whim, but without that approval by Congress, he’d have to pull us back within 30 days. And he’s not allowed to actively order us into hostile situations without approval by Congress.
If we encounter hostilities while out on various campaigns, though, we’re authorized to respond appropriately to the situation via the Rules of Engagement (RoE). Kind of a loophole, which I have definitely seen used before. “Oops, we just happened to be passing through on a patrol and terrorists jumped out of nowhere and opened fire on us! We ended the initial threat, but quick, approve our sustained operations in the area so we can identify and neutralize lingering threats!”
Also, the public referred to the Iraq War as such, and news agencies latched onto the term, so politicians started using it too. And our Public Affairs office instructed military officials who were authorized to speak officially to the public to use common lingo.
But as military members, operating in an official capacity, we were required to use the “correct terminology” in our discussion and documentation, so as not to give off the wrong impression on official records. Which is why we were expected to use Iraq Campaign instead of Iraq War in our official lingo. Future generations will see our official records documented during the Iraq War, and the DoD prefers it’s framed in a certain way, so it doesn’t seem like we were intentionally encouraging a war in the region. As much of a failure as that campaign was, and as paper-thin our excuse was for deploying there, we don’t want people to also think we were just war-hungry terrorists or something. Right?? 9_9
Apologies if my semantics are not 100% accurate; I usually don’t have to deep dive into the specifics about these things with civilians, so I tend to “handwave away” the details, as you put it. I’m sorry if was a bit loose with my verbiage.
- Comment on Who decides when the US goes to "war" 3 weeks ago:
I mean, my point still stands. They weren’t officially declared wars, and they were the president deciding to get involved in foreign affairs. The only difference is that Congress decided to vote on our involvement from 1973 onwards.
So our latest presidents have been more generous about sharing the decision instead of steamrolling ahead on their own. Probably a better move politically; he won’t take the full blame if the decision isn’t popular, like Vietnam.
- Comment on Who decides when the US goes to "war" 3 weeks ago:
Technically only Congress can authorize a war. However, the president can and often will undertake “peacekeeping efforts” or “counterinsurgency operations” or “targeted strikes” without congressional approval.
I served in the US military during the Iraq War. Everyone refers to it as a war, but within the military, it was officially called the Iraq Campaign, as it was a military campaign sanctioned by the president. We couldn’t officially call it a war because Congress didn’t approve a war in the Middle East.
Technically, the last war Congress approved was WWII. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, even our first foray into Iraq with the Gulf War… none of these are official wars. Just the president deciding to step in and get involved in foreign conflicts.
- Comment on Anon manages the impossible 4 weeks ago:
We were all greasy and nasty in basic training. There was practically no time to shower. They implemented a thing called the “car wash.” There were 8 shower heads; 4 on each side of an open bay. We all lined up naked, then walked under each shower head, pausing for maybe 8 seconds before moving on. You had until the last shower head to soap, lather, and rinse before you were done. You weren’t allowed to get back in line.
Suffice to say, nobody got a proper cleaning and we all reeked.
- Comment on Anon manages the impossible 4 weeks ago:
professional killer
We were Air Force, not Marines. Specifically, we worked as IT professionals. So if anything, we were professional nerds, not professional killers.
I deployed with Marines once. My Marine boss said she hoped to god that she never saw an Air Force member with a gun. That would mean the planes are down, the base is overrun, and the Marines are dead. She said we were the absolute last resort. So she told me that if shit hit the fan, I should hand my weapon to the nearest Marine and hide under my desk until it’s over.
Still, you’re correct. There was a surprisingly high rate of abuse and harassment of women across the military. My wife also served, and she got plenty of harassment from her peers. Even some guys that didn’t think being married prevented them from trying to date her. And there were always stories of people cheating while on deployments. Guys got especially horny on deployment because they were trapped on a military base for 6+ months and there were very few women deployed with them, if any at all.
Early in my career, the guys would joke about the 2-10-2 rule: while at our home station, women they worked with might be only a 2 on the hotness scale, but when you’re deployed and had no other options, they’d become a 10. Then you return home and they’re back to a 2. They also referred to this as "deployment goggles " (like beer goggles).
The Air Force specifically made great strides in cutting down on abuse of women. We sat through training courses annually, talking about abuse and harassment and how to respect your peers. The culture shifted greatly from when I signed up in 2002, to when I retired in 2022, and we were at a very good place when I left.
I hear the worst branches to serve as a woman are the Marines and Army. They also made great strides over the years, but they still have a much more toxic culture than we do. Heck, there was big news in 2020 about an Army woman being murdered and dismembered because she didn’t accept advances from a co-worker. They actually made a Netflix special about her. So they still have lots of work to do. But their culture in general is very toxic, not just against women, but everyone. They abuse the hell out of their members, treating them like govt property, not human beings. So until they can shift their mindset and start respecting their people as living, breathing people and not tools to be utilized, I don’t see them improving their respect of women anytime soon.
- Comment on Anon manages the impossible 4 weeks ago:
I can’t speak for the other branches, but the Air Force’s physical requirements actually got harder in 2010.
When the Iraq War kicked off in 2003, they opened the floodgates and recruited everyone they possibly could. As far as I know, physical requirements didn’t change then. I actually signed up a month before 9/11 happened, so when I was processing through MEPS in late 2001, everyone was gung-ho about serving and fighting terrorists to “protect America.” And our medical evaluation was pretty standard.
About a year later, when things started to settle down over there, the federal govt realized they were way over their federal allotment for service members. The Air Force specifically had an excess of 14,000 members they needed to get rid of. And so began many programs over the next decade to cull our numbers and get back to our federal limit.
At first, they gave us the option to nullify our contract and walk. But when people tried to take that option, commanders wouldn’t release them because they didn’t want to lose manpower. So the federal govt had to change the program, saying that no one - not even commanders - could deny you if you wanted to leave.
A lot of people left, but that didn’t get rid of the numbers they wanted, so other programs went into effect. They started cutting people by overmanned career fields. They also started denying tons of reenlistments. I almost didn’t get to stay in the Air Force because they were only approving like 10-11 reenlistments per month, and I was #252 on the waiting list, with only 4 months left until I either reenlisted or got the boot. But at the last minute, when my final month was up, they said they hit their quota for the year and everyone else on the waiting list was automatically approved.
We started calling it the Air Force Hunger Games, because you never knew if your job was safe. Officers had no chance; it was rationalized that, since they already have a bachelor’s degree (a requirement before becoming an officer), that they will do fine on the outside, so they were just cut without warning. Lists of officer names would drop each month, and if your name was on it, your career was over and you had to go home.
I was enlisted, not officer, so they usually gave us a better chance of sticking around. But I remember one year, I barely missed the cutoff for promotion to Technical Sergeant (E-6) and shortly after, all E-6’s in my career field with my time in service got the boot.
In 2010, the Air Force decided that our PT (Physical Training) requirements were too lax, so they changed the annual test practically overnight. The new policy saw people failing like crazy, and subsequently getting kicked out. That helped reduce our numbers greatly.
They also added a waist measurement to our PT test, justifying that people over a certain waist size were at greater risk of heart disease and other health complications. That was the hardest component of our test, because if you failed, you had a month to get in shape and pass.
You know how hard it is to lose inches on your waist in only a month? Almost no one passed after failing a waist measurement. It was a hotly debated topic for the next decade, and they finally removed it from our tests about a year or two ago. I never had to worry about it because I was always a scrawny kid, so I got max points on the waist measurement component every time.
I will say, I stopped hearing about the Air Force Hunger Games sometime around 2015 or so. I think the Air Force finally made it to their quota. Heck, around 2018 or so, the Air Force changed our enlisted HYT (high-year tenure), allowing lower ranks to stay in longer before being forced to separate. A Staff Sergeant (E-5), the lowest of the leadership roles, can actually stay in for 20 years and qualify for retirement now. They said we needed more technical experts/lower leadership roles to stick around longer, as they were what kept us functioning smoothly. The higher ranks (E-7 through E-9) were strict upper management, and the Airmen (E-1 through E-4) were just workhorses. It was the middle ranks (E-5/E-6) that were experts in their field, managed the Airmen directly, and implemented the projects passed down the ranks.
Long-winded story short, I’ve never heard of the Air Force specifically dropping physical requirements to get people to join. Heck, they always stressed how important it was that we were in the best shape we could be in, because you never know when you’ll find yourself behind enemy lines with a 100 lb ruck sack, and the nearest military base is 10 miles away. You need to be able to handle some extreme physical situations in order to survive. And the team is only as strong as their weakest member.
- Comment on Anon manages the impossible 4 weeks ago:
When I was serving in the US military, we were given extremely strict official regulations to live by, which included dress and appearance. There were rules for how long your hair could be, how to properly button/zip/Velcro your uniforms, no wearing of dirty or torn clothing items, must be clean shaven at all times, always be clean and presentable, etc. All aspects of our lives were maintained by an extremely strict protocol.
One year, we got this brand-new young lady in our unit. It was her very first assignment in the military. At first glance, she was kinda cute. Had kind of the shy Violet from The Incredibles vibe going for her. But when she got close to you, you suddenly realized you could smell her. She reeked of feces and B.O., her breath was like death, and her hair was super greasy and clumped into thick strands. Her pale skin had a greasy sheen to it as well. Also, her hair was out of regulations. She wore it hanging straight down, no bobby pins, no buns or ponytails or braids. It was heavily brushing her shoulders; way too long for women’s hair. Hair that long (at the time) was required to be up in a tight bun while in uniform. Also, her uniform hat had very visible grease stains along the edges.
She was pulled aside by our commander and chewed out for not adhering to military regulations, then told to go home, shower, fix her hair (or get a haircut; her choice), and put on a fresh, clean uniform. She left crying.
Soon after, our commander (a Major) got a call from a Colonel at another base. The Colonel proceeded to chew out our commander for “targeting, harassing, and destroying the reputation” of his baby sister. Oops. A Colonel outranks a Major, so our commander couldn’t do anything but take the ass-chewing.
From that moment on, that young girl proceeded to be gross and filthy 24/7, and anyone who complained got an earful from her big brother. No one could reason with him; he absolutely refused to believe his darling baby sister would be such a pigsty. And he was stationed in a completely different country from us, so it’s not like we could drag him over to give his sister a welfare check. We were forced to leave her alone and suffer from her horrid stench. She was given a job in the back corner of the office, away from other coworkers, and FAR away from the customer front desk.
That was about 9 years ago, and I only worked with her for just under a year before I was reassigned. I wonder where she is now? I’m curious if she was ever forced to acknowledge her awful hygiene habits and change. Or perhaps she couldn’t tolerate the “abuse” of bosses and coworkers trying to correct her and decided to leave the military.
Like I said, she was pretty cute, if you could look past all the grime. There was a theory floating around that maybe she had been abused and/or raped in the past, and so she decided to protect herself by making herself as filthy and unappealing as possible. If that’s true, it worked. Everyone gave her a wide berth.
- Comment on The Way Forward, an update from the team behind Cities: Skylines 4 weeks ago:
Honestly, I always felt the $60 price tag for games (now $70+ for AAA titles!) was way too much, so I usually wait about a year or more, then buy it on sale.
So I get to sit back and watch the shitshow when people pre-order games and then get screwed when the game is garbage.
Dragon’s Dogma II was super hyped up recently, and even I got the free character customization demo to pre-build a character. Then it announced day-one microtransactions the day before release and pissed off the gaming community.
- Comment on The Way Forward, an update from the team behind Cities: Skylines 4 weeks ago:
Remember when games used to be a finished product on a cartridge/CD? You just bought it at the store for a base price of a video game and that was it. Any bugs found in the game became widely accepted, and maybe even exploited by competitive gamers. But there was no patching, no updates, no DLC. You paid for a game up front and that was it.
I miss those days.
- Comment on I'm glad my meat didn't go to waste. 4 weeks ago:
My father just passed in January. He was adamant that we not have a funeral for him. He said there was no point in wasting all that money to shove his body in a hole and leave it there. Instead, he signed up to donate his body to science. As soon as he passed, I called a phone number on a card in his wallet and they came and claimed his body. That was it. Whenever they finish whatever research they’re doing, they’ll cremate his remains and return them.
He said, if we really wanted, we could hold a “celebration of life” for him. Just a small barbeque with friend and family to remember him by. He just asked that his favorite beer was left sitting at an empty chair for him.
- Comment on the internet 1 month ago:
A cargo ship lost power and couldn’t steer, ended up crashing into a bridge and took it down. Drivers were stopped from crossing in time, but there was a construction crew on the bridge who fell with it. Several reported dead.
Now Facebook warriors are arguing that it’s some sort of conspiracy.
- Comment on I hate that I enjoyed singing that 1 month ago:
I just sang it with a syllable pause after “Simpsons.” Either that, or just slip in the word, “and” at the beginning.
- Comment on What are the other 6 Ds? 1 month ago:
When I was a kid in the mid-90s, I went to Universal Studios in Orlando and experienced T2-3D: Battle Across Time, their Terminator spinoff story. It was amazing! 3D visuals, spraying mist into the audience as machines are blown apart, and there was audience interaction too, where the story would “leap off the screen” and actors would duke it out in front of us. I always wanted to go back and experience that again, but I guess they finally closed down that ride about a decade ago.
- Comment on What are the other 6 Ds? 1 month ago:
I don’t know about 9D, but I once saw Avengers: Age of Ultron in 4D in a theater in Seoul, South Korea. It was a 3D film with moving seats, smells, and air that would blast in your face.
During a car chase, you could smell burning rubber, or close-ups of women would have a whiff of perfume or flowers. During a shootout, you’d get fine blasts of air on either side of your face, like bullets barely missing your head. If someone took a hit, the seats would jolt violently. It also poked you in the back if someone was hit from behind. Not to mention, flying in any aircraft felt like you were on a rollercoaster; the seats would raise and lower and tilt in all directions. It was pretty intense. Like being on one of those Universal Studios rides at their theme park, except for an entire film.
- Comment on Netflix Marvel Shows Are Now 100% MCU Canon | Giant Freaking Robot 1 month ago:
Uhh… they’ve always been canon to the movies. Remember when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was cleaning up the mess left behind from Thor 2? Or the constant references to the Battle of New York? The Netflix Marvel shows made references to the MCU films all the time.
It’s the reason I preferred the MCU over the DCEU. DC’s TV shows had absolutely nothing to do with their new movies, so they didn’t contribute to the world building. It felt pointless to watch stand-alone series that went nowhere, so I skipped them all. But the Marvel series were all set in the MCU, so it was developing more heroes who could potentially make cameos on the big screen. Or further developing heroes who were previously on the big screen, like Wanda, Loki, Phil Coulson, Hawkeye, etc.
- Comment on 8 Years later my Steam Link is still getting regular updates 4 months ago:
I still have my old one. I used to use it to stream Steam to my living room TV, since my gaming PC was in my office on my second floor. The wife wanted to hang out, but she’d always be distracted on her phone and there wasn’t room in my office for us to comfortably sit together, so I’d game from the TV while she sat with me on the couch.
I haven’t used the physical Steam Link in a few years, though. My newest Smart TV has a Steam Link app on it, which does everything the physical device did. Maybe that’s why the physical one still gets updates; because the software is still being supported as a TV app.
- Comment on I got this popup ad on my TV **while watching a DVD** 4 months ago:
That’s the route I took. I recently bought a 48" 4K monitor, hooked a mini PC up to it, and now I stream my movie and TV show collection through Plex. I still have Internet access on my “TV,” but I’m in control of what pops up (I block all ads on my home network). I just use a small wireless keyboard and mouse instead of a remote.
I haven’t actually owned a TV since about 2008. I have better media options through computers, and the technology just keeps getting better. Cable and public access television are a pain because you’re constantly bombarded with ads. With my own computer, I can circumvent ads and get a solid viewing experience.
- Comment on Subscribe for more Treat Tips 5 months ago:
At first glance, I thought that was a fish head on a hardboiled egg. Once I saw the Nutella jar, I realized what it was. It’s significantly less gross to me now.
- Comment on Why do people want games that are just stories without any gameplay, these days? Why not just watch a movie for that? 5 months ago:
For me personally, video games are interactive stories. I love movies and TV shows, and being able to have some level of control over the action is an amazing experience for me!
I’m also not competitive and don’t care so much about scores, rankings, or online multiplayer vs. games. Just give me an intriguing plot and let me be the protagonist in it. I’ll play that game for hours on end.
I don’t like games that are essentially movies with a few interactive scenes between clips, though. It has to be really interesting if I’m going to sit through a game like that. I’m here to play, not to watch. The only series that’s been interesting enough for me to deal with hundreds of cutscenes dispersed every few minutes throughout is the Metal Gear Solid series.
I realize I don’t speak for the whole gaming community, but this is my personal view.
- Comment on Starfield's new PC patch delivers the game we should have had at launch - Eurogamer 5 months ago:
So does this mean the game is finally ready for me to buy? Just waiting on a Steam sale and I’ll finally get to play this. Bugs or not, I’m not paying $70 for a base video game.
- Comment on If civilization continues to the year 9999, is the idea to go to year 10.000, or...? 5 months ago:
- Comment on Why using the search bar to find emojis, does it display the male and female forms, but never show the gender neutral version even though such an emoji does exist? 6 months ago:
The hair is styled differently.
- Comment on Military Time vs 24hr? 6 months ago:
I spent 20 years in the US military. I had to quickly learn “military time” in order to function, as we were taught 12-hr time growing up in school. I was surprised when I traveled the world and discovered that everyone else uses “military time” (read: international time) as well. I guess Americans just really wanna do their own thing.
I exclusively use military time nowadays. If someone doesn’t understand the time I stated, I’ll correct it to 12-hr time on the spot, as converting is super easy. Just count back 2 hours and drop the 10’s digit by one; e.g. 1600 = 4 PM. 2200 = 10 PM. Etc.
- Comment on [deleted] 7 months ago:
I browse Lemmy from my phone with Sync for Lemmy. It shows me every federated instance in one scrolling feed, including kbin.
- Comment on 15 Underrated Indie Games 7 months ago:
Thanks for this. I clicked the link, then immediately noped out when I saw it was a video. I was hoping for an article with a numbered list.