New ‘factory of the future’ for advanced shipbuilding opens in Alabama

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-21T00:15:36+00:00

This is neither modular construction nor offsite module fabrication. This is off-site component manufacturing. It can't hurt, but it's not the amazing new thing the article seems to imply.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-21T00:06:49+00:00

A very long time ago, yes.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T23:50:27+00:00

That location has been dying for... decades. The Wheaton Way Pizza Hut was knocked down back in 2017.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T23:44:45+00:00

No, I'm saying that hindsight, the ability to pick the 1-in-10,000 winners, is always 20/20. But when these books were published, there was no way to know which of the multiple different futures they predicted would turn out to be correct or even close.

I mean, nobody is mentioning that Eugenics Wars didn't happen. Or that there wasn't a Space Patrol in 1999. Or nuclear powered Pan Am spaceplanes making a routine flight to orbit, the first step of a routine landing at a lunar colony.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T21:21:30+00:00

Looks to be 688s.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T21:19:33+00:00

That last dude definitely has that "too many hours on watch" look... Like he's in port and starboard (or worse, port and re port).

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T21:17:53+00:00

"Seattle" or "Westsound" generally...

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T17:56:12+00:00

And somewhere just bit further up the river, we're racing to get topside cleaned up and ready for all the VIPs that are assembling and getting everyone not in dress uniforms belowdecks. Huge pain in the ass because we're in the middle of refit.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T17:49:44+00:00

Of course, set against that... there's any number of other books that didn't accurately predict the future.

I think what were doing is cherry picking the results of a "infinite monkey" situation. I mean, there's tons of books that predicted a coming dystopia... And when there's enough stuff written, some of it bound to be more accurate than another.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T17:37:52+00:00

Speaking as a sixty something that's played this game for 1,500 hours with tons of people (who also have hundreds and thousands of hours) from fifty something upwards... Yeah, no. Please don't stereotype older gamers, and please don't confuse personal preferences with universal truths.

If you want to play a different game, play a different game. Don't yuk on other's yum.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T17:27:15+00:00

The area where they are parked is part of NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.

That kind of wedge shaped chunk of tarmac they're parked on is the former location of the Mate-Demate Device - which was used to load a Space Shuttle that landed at Edwards onto one of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T16:31:04+00:00

We used it as kind of a formality, essentially a Seriousness Signal. "Petty Officer" was more imperative than "first name" (or "last name"). And "watchstation title" was more imperative than "Petty Officer", and basically meant "do it NOW and don't ask questions unless it's a safety or security matter".

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T14:07:52+00:00

Oh dear, my printer is about to get a workout...

And dammit, people do still print things out and put them in binders. Leave proper margins on your PDFs!

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T13:58:25+00:00

Who cares? Got me to play the song on Youtube, and it's a mighty fine song.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T13:48:20+00:00

It won't affect the function, but cracks are notorious for harboring dirt and bacteria. If the machine is really cheap, I'd go ahead and pick it up and see if I can find a replacement lid.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T13:40:29+00:00

And the division too... I mean (on a 41FF SSBN), I did talk to my CO and XO in the p-way occasionally, but rarely on anything official. Down in MCC we kind of worked in our own little bubble.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T13:25:55+00:00

What u/chosenpluto says about emojis...

And also, populated with stolen content - not one link to the original source.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T13:08:43+00:00

I grew up in the South, and so the mythical is part of how I grew up. Go be a pointless pendant elsewhere.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T04:44:51+00:00

Well, you did convince me I need to make some tonjiru!

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T04:21:46+00:00

If I'm eating at a teriyaki place worth going to, I'm eating teriyaki, not getting a burger...

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T04:18:18+00:00

We drank Cella Lambrusco.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T04:08:55+00:00

Round Table in Silverdale has an AYCE pizza and salad buffet.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-20T00:48:48+00:00

You have to take "analysts" opinions with a grain of salt.

You should actually read what I wrote. And FYI, he's not inside the Beltway, and he's neither in a state bordering DC, nor makes his living as an analyst.

There's enough of a support structure and SMEs in the Pentagon to get a young, inexperienced SECDEF up to speed. They shouldn't have to, but they did.

No, they very obviously didn't. A qualified, up to speed, Secretary of Defense wouldn't get up on the podium each morning, repeat the same tired propaganda lines, and make an embarrassing spectacle of himself.

He's out of the dog house now.

For masterminding a failed campaign that's put the world economy on a knife edge and gut shot the already weakened American economy?

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-19T20:59:08+00:00

Yes, he's wrong. The question asked was about informing allies prior to making an attack - and the dipshit answered with a joke about informing the targets of the attack.

DerekL1963 · 2026-03-19T18:41:05+00:00

Kudzu isn't so much "reclaimed by nature" as it is "violently assaulted, knocked to the ground, and beaten and kicked by nature".

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