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American plugs are legitimately poorly designed, but it’s rarely an issue. If America had had a tea culture, they wouldn’t have given it up because the plugs are bad. Americans would have put up with slow kettles or perhaps hardwired them like major kitchen appliances. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Jan 6, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 08:04
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Squalid posted:There were some posters in the UK DnD thread who were absolutely convinced this was because American power outlets literally weren't powerful enough for electric kettles. It was like. . . dudes, do you really not understand not everyone needs or wants the same appliances? I guess that's just the same mistake everybody's always made about others, that is assuming that if others were capable of doing so, they'd do everything the way we do. They're right though, 110 volts is not enough for an electric kettle to boil water in a timely fashion. Japan is a tea-drinking culture saddled with low voltage due to American influence, and they get around this by replacing kettles with heavily-insulated pots that keep water perpetually hot. Jaguars! posted:From what I remember, they did did feel wiggly as hell compared to others (NZ in my case), but that's OK because they don't carry 240v. And while it isn't the reason for the coffee dominance in the US, Kettles on a normal 120v setup are a lot more feeble than on a 240v setup. Blenders are the other great disappointment when moving from 240 volts to 110.
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Jan 6, 2019 09:23
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someone find me a picture of a british teapot adapter that works by plugging into two separate American outlets.
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Jan 6, 2019 10:01
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Tunicate posted:someone find me a picture of a british teapot adapter that works by plugging into two separate American outlets. People do that to charge electrical vehicles in a pinch. Most American houses get split phase service. If you tap into outlets on opposite phases, you can get double the voltage and double the current, for four times the power.  As the thread points out, modern protection systems (specifically GFCI) throw a fit if you do this, because it’s not how electrical distribution is supposed to work.
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Jan 6, 2019 10:26
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Comrade Gorbash posted:The USSR got the Hatsuzakura, Nara, Kiri, Kaya, and Shii, all of which they kept in service briefly, then converted to target ships. A few were later converted to floating generators/heaters/barracks. All were finally retired and scrapped during the 50s and 60s. Too bad they didn't keep one around up in Kola Bay, ammirite?
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Jan 6, 2019 12:55
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LatwPIAT posted:I think I'd give the prize of worst to the M60A2 Starship over the M551 Sheridan. While the Sheridan has problems it's a light, air-transportable and air-dumpable vehicle with decent infantry support and tank-killing weapon. It's a force-multiplier for troops who'd otherwise be left with, at best, some other ICV-esque thing with a small gun and/or ATGM launcher on it. Are these entries in a (long) series of "Yom Kippur broke armor people's minds" things? Like: people saw the AT-3  and shat  themselves, and made a series of ill-considered choices because of it?E: Also, is winSPMBT good? I mean: I like it, and it has an effective armor calculator utility which is always a positive sign in a game, but is it good? Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Jan 6, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 13:16
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Well it's free but I think it's aged badly on account of the igoyougo system.
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Jan 6, 2019 13:39
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Stairmaster posted:Well it's free but I think it's aged badly on account of the igoyougo system. I found it on an old hard drive from like 2008 or 10 and reinstalled it. I had forgotten just how many hours I poured into it (the lack of a Steam time counter being, as always, a welcome omission).
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Jan 6, 2019 13:44
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Is there reason to believe that stuff like that armor thickness calculator or the various to hit probabilities and how they are modified by X model ECM or Y model countermeasures in CMANO have any relation whatsoever to reality? I don't know where I would even begin to look for data to base something like that on. Like I know that it's a guess, but is there reason to believe that it's an informed guess or is it just tweaking numbers until you have something that feels right for how badass the F-22 "should" be vs. the whateverthefuck SAM system. How much time realistically does a game dev have to spend on researching something like that, plus how many fields would he have to be sort of knowledgeable in if he's building it from the ground up, plus what do you do if the results turn out to make for an unfun game. Help I'm having a meltdown.
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Jan 6, 2019 13:50
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I have played it for a solid 10 years and did so again as late as yesterday. It's fun for it's ability to simulate nearly whatever you need it to. Cons as I see it: - Helicopters are useless, even against red opfor (the "insurgent simulator" enemy). It always assumes optimal monetary resources and political connections, allowing poo poo rear end insurgents in a remote albanian village access to SA-11 MANPADS and RPG-22 'neto' HEAT launchers (I guess that could be construed as reality, it's just really unfun). - Hideous wait times if there's any artillery batteries of even remotely functional size. The barrages go on forever - point costs are wonky. This is another one where it's hard to tell con from proper reality simulation, as nearly all non-5th gen Russian/US/German tanks are just hosed if they're hit with any kind of infantry AT missile. - IgoUgo isn't inherently broken, but the battles are too "wave-y", in that at some point a platoon or company usually breaks a piece of the enemy front in a single turn because they all get to fire (and thus cause suppression) at once. I don't think the armour simulation is particularly broken, it acts more or less like the real-world counterparts.
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Jan 6, 2019 13:59
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Squalid posted:There were some posters in the UK DnD thread who were absolutely convinced this was because American power outlets literally weren't powerful enough for electric kettles. It was like. . . dudes, do you really not understand not everyone needs or wants the same appliances? I guess that's just the same mistake everybody's always made about others, that is assuming that if others were capable of doing so, they'd do everything the way we do. Hello hi I am a British dude who lived in America for 10 years and I ended up getting a stovetop kettle because American electric kettles take forever to boil. Americans don't use electric kettles because American electric kettles are poo poo, sorry you had to find out this way.
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Jan 6, 2019 14:58
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feedmegin posted:Hello hi I am a British dude who lived in America for 10 years and I ended up getting a stovetop kettle because American electric kettles take forever to boil. Americans don't use electric kettles because American electric kettles are poo poo, sorry you had to find out this way. Americans don't use good electric kettles because our tea is brewed and served cold, with ice cubes. We drink huge amounts of tea, the rest of the world just says it doesn't count because it's the wrong kind of tea.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:05
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feedmegin posted:Americans don't use electric kettles because tea is a poo poo, sorry you had to find out this way. E: Sorry Cythereal but iced tea is likewise a poo poo. 
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Jan 6, 2019 15:11
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Schadenboner posted:E: Sorry Cythereal but iced tea is likewise a poo poo. It's very different from hot tea. Iced tea became a thing for a simple reason: it gets really loving hot in the South, and iced tea is great for cooling off. The abomination known as sweet tea, however... that I can't defend, even as someone from the Deep South.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:13
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Cythereal posted:The abomination known as sweet tea, however... that I can't defend, even as someone from the Deep South. You tried Turkish or Arab tea? Those guys really like sugar.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:18
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At leaat we use the same plugs as our geographical neighbours instead of having to be special fuckin snowflakes about everything from plugs to what side of the road we drive on.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:31
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Brits have Ring Mains which renders all complaints against US voltages null and void; and also separate hot and cold taps because they can't be assed to keep mice out of their water supply 
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Jan 6, 2019 15:31
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:At leaat we use the same plugs as our geographical neighbours instead of having to be special fuckin snowflakes about everything from plugs to what side of the road we drive on. I'm reminded that a lot of weird Americanisms were originally British things that we inherited, like the spelling of aluminum and the word 'soccer.' Yes, soccer was originally a British word for the sport, short for 'Association' as in 'Association Football.'
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Jan 6, 2019 15:37
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:At leaat we use the same plugs as our geographical neighbours instead of having to be special fuckin snowflakes about everything from plugs to what side of the road we drive on. Ireland drives on the left and uses the same plugs as us? 
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Jan 6, 2019 15:38
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feedmegin posted:Ireland drives on the left and uses the same plugs as us? Thanks to colonialism, yes.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:42
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Getting mad over plugs and roads. Welcome to milhist
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Jan 6, 2019 15:49
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:At leaat we use the same plugs as our geographical neighbours instead of having to be special fuckin snowflakes about everything from plugs to what side of the road we drive on. Getting off the ferry from Calais and suddenly having to drive on the left side is an intensely frightening experience for the first couple of minutes. Also roundabouts, gently caress me. When it comes to electrical sockets, at least Britain is an island. For some ghastly reason Switzerland decided that they were going to use different sockets than the rest of Europe (though its still 230 V, so if you can fit your plug into them, they tend to work).
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Jan 6, 2019 15:49
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Conflicthistory IV: roundabouts, gently caress me.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:56
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Marxist-Jezzinist posted:Conflicthistory IV: Getting mad over plugs and roads. Welcome to milhist E for content: is there any data available for how average engagement distance changed for aircraft through WW2? Like, how far were fighters and bombers apart in the Battle of Britain versus the (day) air war over Germany later on? I'm specifying day because I'd imagine the data is harder to come by for night fighters? Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jan 6, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 16:03
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Randarkman posted:When it comes to electrical sockets, at least Britain is an island. For some ghastly reason Switzerland decided that they were going to use different sockets than the rest of Europe (though its still 230 V, so if you can fit your plug into them, they tend to work). I can see Switzerland doing it because they have a dedication to independence from the rest of the international sphere, but Britain's plugs are still real weird. Especially since every place that Britain once owned decided on their own, separate type of plugs. No consistency throughout the empire. Places like Australia make sense since they're geographically isolated and maybe electricity had independent development out there, but I can't fathom why Israel of all places came up with its own special snowflake plug that no place else on Earth uses. https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/ https://www.iec.ch/worldplugs/list_bylocation.htm There's also a few more outliers in Europe like Denmark and Italy, that probably was independent development, but they've come to accept Euro standard plugs as well. The Denmark plugs are so cheery, they provide a nice counterbalance to the sad Australian plug. feedmegin posted:Ireland drives on the left and uses the same plugs as us? More in the vein of military history, I read an article recently on how the side of the road people drive on was spread by war as well as colonialism. America and Britain spread their driving side with their influence, but Napoleonic France and Nazi Germany spread their driving-sidedness to every territory they conquered, before the EU finished the job. https://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/driving-on-the-left/ I can't remember how I found my way to it, so apologies if I'm reposting something I learned from this thread.
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Jan 6, 2019 16:37
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SlothfulCobra posted:I can see Switzerland doing it because they have a dedication to independence from the rest of the international sphere, but Britain's plugs are still real weird. It's a defensive thing, like the USSR adopting a different rail gauge than Germany. Invading troops won't be able to charge their phones & other devices, and will be forced to retreat once they run out of charge.
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Jan 6, 2019 16:44
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SlothfulCobra posted:I can see Switzerland doing it because they have a dedication to independence from the rest of the international sphere, but Britain's plugs are still real weird. Especially since every place that Britain once owned decided on their own, separate type of plugs. No consistency throughout the empire. Places like Australia make sense since they're geographically isolated and maybe electricity had independent development out there, but I can't fathom why Israel of all places came up with its own special snowflake plug that no place else on Earth uses. It’s probably a pretty easy way to protect domestic industries from competition? I mean, I’m not a free trader or even much of a capitalist really, but straight-up protectionism seems like it would be my guess on why a country (meaning the electrical utility and regulators) would have their own plug?
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Jan 6, 2019 16:44
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Marxist-Jezzinist posted:Getting mad over plugs and roads. Welcome to milhist i am REAL MAD about swiss plugs because i had to stay overnight in Zuerich because of an emergency and had no idea they were like that
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Jan 6, 2019 16:45
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SlothfulCobra posted:I can see Switzerland doing it because they have a dedication to independence from the rest of the international sphere, but Britain's plugs are still real weird. Especially since every place that Britain once owned decided on their own, separate type of plugs. No consistency throughout the empire. Places like Australia make sense since they're geographically isolated and maybe electricity had independent development out there, but I can't fathom why Israel of all places came up with its own special snowflake plug that no place else on Earth uses. France was on GMT until the german occupation. They never changed back, also Spain changed too because... I dunno, fascist timezone solidarity?
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Jan 6, 2019 16:49
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Schadenboner posted:It’s probably a pretty easy way to protect domestic industries from competition?
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Jan 6, 2019 16:51
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Schadenboner posted:E for content: is there any data available for how average engagement distance changed for aircraft through WW2? Like, how far were fighters and bombers apart in the Battle of Britain versus the (day) air war over Germany later on? I don't know the answer but I think I know the question: Try looking into gun convergence patterns, since they'll be set at average engagement distances to produce the greatest possible chance of hitting. I've not got any of my likely books with me at the moment but a quick read between the lines of wikipedia says that early war expected engagement distances were much further away than practical engagement distances and that engagement ranges may have extended back out later on in the war, although that sentence is about American fighters armed with .50 MGs that may have had that sort of engagement distance all along. It also says that night fighters had very short engagement distances because they tried to creep up on their opponent as much as possible, which gels with accounts of night fighter pilots and bomber crews that I've read. This is entirely speculative but I hope I've given you a lead.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:21
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Schadenboner posted:Are these entries in a (long) series of "Yom Kippur broke armor people's minds" things? The decision to adopt the Shillelagh and its gun-launcher predates the Yom Kippur War. It's not really related to any particular trauma, it's just a good idea that the US implemented in a strikingly terrible fashion. The lessons learned from the IDF's experience on the receiving end of the Malyutka were more of a wake-up call that led to the development and dissemination of training and tactics to counter it. And, in the Israeli case, putting mortars on their tanks to allow effective suppression of ATGM teams.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:55
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SlothfulCobra posted:I can see Switzerland doing it because they have a dedication to independence from the rest of the international sphere, but Britain's plugs are still real weird. Especially since every place that Britain once owned decided on their own, separate type of plugs. No consistency throughout the empire. To be fair, modern plug standardisation in the UK was a postwar thing, if I recall, at which point the whole 'empire' thing was kind of on the way out. If widespread home electrification had been a thing circa 1850 then things would probably be rather different.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:57
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Schadenboner posted:Are these entries in a (long) series of "Yom Kippur broke armor people's minds" things? That reenforced an already existing trend. Khrushchev was a big proponent of missiles and as a result the USSR, for example, had tried to shift to "missiles for EVERYTHING" before 1973. They built their own missile-armed AFVs like the IT-1 in the late 60's: 
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Jan 6, 2019 18:39
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Im not exactly sure the 60mm mortar on a Merkava is for ATGM suppression because given how mortars work and the range of a 60mm mortar engaging the enemy missile team with your main gun is likely easier, more accurate and faster.
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Jan 6, 2019 18:48
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feedmegin posted:To be fair, modern plug standardisation in the UK was a postwar thing, if I recall, at which point the whole 'empire' thing was kind of on the way out. If widespread home electrification had been a thing circa 1850 then things would probably be rather different. It was also something of a gross overcompensation for how decidedly unsafe prior UK electric socket designs were, that led to the beefy fuse and foot destroying huge pins to carry the power. You can use the drat modern plugs as a weapon of war. Most former British Empire locales are using less-radical improvements on the several plug types used in the home island. Though it's not uncommon that a plug design in former empire territory is a failed design from America - the Australia/NZ design is precisely that which was briefly popular in the US during World War I. As you might expect, this was because American electric interests had been able to get more market influence in those countries at the time standards were being set, some of whom wanted to offload a bunch of now-useless sockets and plugs as America had standardized on the plugs still used today.
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Jan 6, 2019 19:10
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I hate our too-safe plugs
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Jan 6, 2019 19:12
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Valtonen posted:Im not exactly sure the 60mm mortar on a Merkava is for ATGM suppression because given how mortars work and the range of a 60mm mortar engaging the enemy missile team with your main gun is likely easier, more accurate and faster. Not if you have an APFSDS shell loaded.
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Jan 6, 2019 19:14
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Marxist-Jezzinist posted:I hate our too-safe plugs It’s funny to imagine Thatcher saying this
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Jan 6, 2019 19:29
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:It’s funny to imagine Thatcher saying this Forlornly jamming a fork in a socket.
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Jan 6, 2019 19:33
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