• 0 Posts
  • 395 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

help-circle







  • I wouldn’t say it’s ineffective, it’s does give the vehicle a chance to escape a drone attack.

    From the videos, Ukraine is knocking out equipment by sending multiple drones. The first few take out the drone defenses, clearing the way for later drones to hit the armor and destroy the vehicle. If the vehicle can escape before the drone defenses are breached the defenses are definitely worth it.



  • Taxes can go either way. It depends on how they were written.

    The tax code after the Great Depression allowed for massive expansion of public projects in the U.S. It was 63% for the top earners. During WW2 the top tax bracket was at 94%.

    When the boomers were all born the tax bracket was above 70% for the top earners. This high tax bracket is what fueled the creation of a large middle class, public infrastructure, schools, research, space exploration, and the massive military buildup and wars. It also acted as an effective anti-minopoly/oligarchy system because the tax system discouraged it.

    Then in the 80’s Reagan slashed the taxes for the top earners down to 28%. its never gotten above 40% since then. Most high earning companies have so many exeptions today that the real tax rate is often 0%.

    Because of it the infrastructure built during the 50’s-70’s is degrading and falling apart. Public services are declining and the middle class is shrinking as people become more impoverished.


  • The_v@lemmy.worldtoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldHeroes
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    23 days ago

    Brings back a fun memory. On a business trip in France, I was driving and with my coworker (French national).

    I had the GPS set to English pronunciation of the signs etc. My coworker spent most of the two hour drive a complaining about the pronunciation and begging to change the settings. I spent the trip laughing my ass off at him and refusing to change it.




  • I don’t think they have much choice. Their air defense capabilities at this point are seriously degraded from before the war started. Ukraine as knocked out almost 1,200 of their anti-air capability.

    At this point they need to constantly move them to different locations. Never lingering at any one location longer than a week or so. Utilizing hanger space whenever possible to hide them.

    Ukraine has shown that they can effectively target almost anywhere in Russian now with enough time and motivation. Russia has been using these planes to terror bomb civilians.


  • The_v@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldI HATE email
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    29 days ago

    The last time I had a landline was 16 years ago when my wife briefly had a home office. Her employer required the landline as part of the home office setup (they paid for it).

    We got spammed by robocallers every 5-10 minutes all day long and half the night. It was so bad that my wife never knew when a work call was coming in and had to let every call go to voicemail.

    We didn’t unplug the phone just turned the answering machine to silent. We still got calls on a supposedly disconnected number.




  • The American system for me.

    Halfway through the year cost so far:

    Relatively inexpensive union insurance for the family $2310. Out of pocket expenses so far $3,700. Total $6010 so far…

    Estimated total by the end of the year - $2310 in insurance premiums, 3,000 out of pocket.

    Yearly estimated total $11,320.

    2 years ago we had the corporate America special. Premium was $16,200, out of pocket was 8,000. $24,200 was the total cost. It was 26.8% of my gross income that year.



  • Well your going to wish you weren’t so curious with this one. Source of this information: several museum visits around 30 years ago after a pint or three, so the info might be warped.

    Gin is a double-distilled 40% or higher spirit flavored with juniper + other flavors.

    The source of the alcohol was any carbohydrate or starch source. Whatever was cheapest. It was mostly wheat and barley at the time but just about anything else cheap could be used like rye, turnips, etc. For the cheapest rotgut the ingredients was stuff considered unfit for animal feed (rodent feces, insect damage, molds, water damage, etc).

    Since their ingredients were highly questionable, their input cost was minimal. Heating was from coal. They also started making larger batches which further reduced down the cost.

    Logistics - Canals at this time period was the most important logistic. One donkey pulling a barge could move as much as 50 wagons. Tons of goods were transported cheaply and efficiently on the barges. The gin was shipped in casks/barrels like beer/ale. Bottles were very expensive and reserved for the elite.

    Public sanitation consisted of a gutter on the side of the road. The entire city smelled like the open sewer it was.

    The gin was not served in bottles. It was served like beer or ale into cups/mugs/communal tankards etc … mostly earthenware, leather or wood.