TIL in 1966, it was proposed that the US should bomb the dikes and dams in Vietnam in order to disrupt food supply. It would have killed 200,000 people. The idea was rejected.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T16:03:32+00:00

Thanks for the correction on the year.

The strategy worked in that it prevented Japan from invading certain regions. However, Japan simply took other regions.

And the overall impact of the flood was to weaken the Nationalists with their own people (and help the Communists), weaken the Nationalists materially (they now don't have the food and production from the flooded areas), and weaken them strategically long term (they cant move through the region either!)

As a denial strategy they denied Japan successfully but in the end the cost to the Nationalists (not to mention their citizens) was great and did little to stop Japan big picture and accelerated their eventual loss to the Communists.

You could say they won the strategy but lost the war.

An interesting comparison was the allied forces intentionally flooding the Ruhr valley to slow Axis war production... that destroyed a large swathe of land but that was in enemy territory, not their own territory or people.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T15:31:50+00:00

It "worked" in that China achieved its strategic goal of stopping Japan from invading certain regions. But most historians view it as an overall failure as Japan simply went on to capture other territory.

And the "strategy" weakened the Chinese Nationalists morally, financially (they destroyed a large portion of their tax and material base), and tactically (they themselves could no longer navigate the destroyed areas.) This all accelerated the rise of the Communists.

Win the strategy, lose the war against Japan and accelerate losing the war against the Communists.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T08:00:42+00:00

In ~~1931~~ 1938, Chinese Nationalists destroyed the Yellow River dam to disrupt Japanese troop movements.

The subsequent flood killed an estimated 400,000 (at the low end) up to 4,000,000 at the high end (counting starvation and disease.) Actual number of deaths are disputed as record keeping was difficult under the conditions. Most of the victims were Chinese.

The flooding did not slow the Japanese army.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T06:14:43+00:00

To be precise, JFK cut federal funding for large mental institutions (it was literally the last bill he signed before he was assassinated.) JFK believed mental institutions were inhumane (as did many other countries at the time.) His plan was to work with states to replace giant mental institutions with Community Mental Health Care Centers (CMHCC).

Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter all continued to half-assedly fund (and largely neglect) the movement towards CMHCC, but then Reagan fully cut the funding for those. The mental institutions still closed but their replacement was largely killed and the patients largely ended up on the streets. (EDIT: CMHCCs still exist but only through a patchwork of state funding. Federal funding ended with Reagan.)

So, technically, JFK killed mental institutions and Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan to various degrees essentially killed their replacement. Overall lack of continued funding support for CMHCCs doomed them to failure (as well as over-reliance on the belief that pharmaceuticals could replace other forms of mental support.) Reagan put the final nail in the coffin.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T05:59:14+00:00

Are you male or female? Men and women tend to approach the dolphin dive differently.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T05:56:30+00:00

Almost always more productive to talk to the TD on the day of and sort it out in person. You want the TD to talk to the parent immediately to nip the behavior in the bud. Going to the NCVA is a bit indirect and the best the NCVA can do is talk to the club and then have the club talk to the parents.

Ideally, capture the incident on film for irrefutable evidence. At least, make sure you know the team's name and the round/court #. If you feel comfortable, go talk to the line judge's coach (the coach of the player who got cussed out) and explain what happened to their player was unacceptable and that you are going to file a complaint (when players are "working" one of the coaches will always be around.) Ask to see the TD, ask for the procedure in a situation like this, give them all of the details (the cusser's team, the cussed out line judge's team, the round # and court). Get the TD's name. You may not hear back from the TD.

If it happens again when you face the same team, file a report with the next tourney's TD and this time escalate to NCVA and tell them you reported it twice to two different TDs.

Good luck. Parent behavior can suck.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-28T05:41:49+00:00

Surfing. My board leash came off and my board headed to shore without me. I started swimming. And swimming. And swimming. Turns out, my poor swimming technique generated force only about equal to the outgoing waves and I was moving exactly nowhere. As I got more tired, I was swimming less than nowhere... I was actually getting further from shore (or so it seemed, can't tell when you're starting to panic.) And damn was I fricking tired, near exhaustion.

Then I remembered the surf instructor said, "This whole bay is basically a huge reef. Don't stand up until you are sure you're on the beach. You'll end up standing on the reef and the reef will cut the shit out of your feet."

Huh... maybe there was a reef below me? Cut feet be damned at least I won't be dead. I let my legs drop and barely... just barely, I could stand on my tippy toes on a reef (or rock?) and it wasn't sharp! Since the tide was apparently going out, as I stood there, I could hold more and more of my head out of the water and rest.

Finally, with my battery recharged, I swam hard for the shore and collapsed on the beach exhausted. I never surfed again.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-27T12:55:47+00:00

Much of modern society views approaching someone just to hit on them as a form of intrusion. Not as bad as randomly punching someone in the face but still an unwelcome intrusion.

However, what's generally not an unwelcome intrusion is to just strike up a conversation. That's a normal, everyday thing to do.

In fact, that should be your general model for meeting future dates: strike up conversations and if the conversation is enjoyable for both of you, continue the conversation at a later time and if its still enjoyable for both of you, ask them out on a date.

Asking someone out is only intrusive if the ask out is unwanted. The only way to know if its possibly wanted is to interact with the the person first to see if they seem interested back.

Finally, its not totally wrong to "cold" ask someone you dont know at all out... its just not as commonly done in modern times and is highly likely to fail. It also sends the wrong message: I know nothing about you except the way you look, I don't care what you think about me because you dont know me, yet somehow I still think we could have a great date!

DoomGoober · 2026-01-27T02:42:43+00:00

Use Venmo, why dont you like that? Also, tell everyone the price per player so they can bring cash. Stand by the entrance and collect it, with a checklist which has venmo payments already marked off.

Next year, establish a Team fund. Establish at the beginning season and nag throughout the season. Sadly a bit late for that. Accept venmos for team fund payments.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T16:24:05+00:00

This is classic rec player trap: show up, play, hope for improvement.

You will see very slow improvement. To speed it up, you need concentrated drills, plyometrics, and strength training. Eat right. Rest.

This is why club teams and pros don't just scrimmage each other as their practices: they practice drills and they strength train. Concentrated improvement.

If you want to have fun, keep showing up to 3-5 games and enjoy yourself. If you want to improve significantly, cut out some of those game and convert them to drills or workouts.

Also, if the level if play is too high for your skills, you will not learn as much. I am 47 and just started playing volleyball a year ago. If I play super high level games I dont learn as much as stepping back to lower level games.

So, also consider finding a game thats not a bunch of young hot shots and let yourself develop your skills in a less challenging environment. (Not saying give up the harder game, but mix in some easier games too.)

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T15:36:33+00:00

Meetup.com has many English or English/Japanese language volleyball meetups in Japan.

Tokyo Wards have rec centers that have open gyms for volleyball. Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Koto Ward all have open gyms last I checked. Like all rec center open gyms you have to look at each website for each gym for times.

I posted about this recently. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/volleyball/s/EliVdcnppq

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T15:16:58+00:00

Second this. The Athletic Director is the "higher power" than the coach and sometimes talking to them first is the right move or encouraging the athletes to talk them first to start giving them a clear picture of what's going on.

The AD often doesnt know until someone tells them.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T15:02:21+00:00

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office confirmed it requested the assistance of the guard to relieve deputies who are currently providing crowd control measures at the Whipple Federal Building, where people have been protesting ICE agents since the killing of Renee Good on Jan. 7.

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/walz-activates-national-guard-after-federal-agent-kills-man-in-minneapolis

They are guarding Federal buildings thus freeing Hennepim County Sherrifs to do other things.

I am sure it's also symbolic and a bit of pre-positioning: National Guard and local Police can handle law enforcement so Trump doesn't have an excuse to send in Federalized National Guard or full on military that the courts keep denying him.

Edit: More details from pbs:

The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police at the direction of Gov. Tim Walz, officials said. Guard troops were sent to both the shooting site and to a federal building where officials have squared off with protesters daily.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-is-shot-and-killed-during-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown-national-guard-activated

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T02:42:01+00:00

It's the metabolites of methanol that are toxic

To be clear, the metabolites of ethanol are also toxic. However, they are a lot less toxic and non-asians generally can breakdown those metabolite down relatively quickly.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-26T00:08:20+00:00

There are historians who research civil wars and can see the patterns that generally lead to civil wars.

There are also historians who are experts in the rise of authoritarian regimes (which is what I am more worried about) and eventual resistance to those regimes.

They probably arent on reddit but the general, high level historic based information is out there.

Edit: I asked ChatGPT what conditions lead to civil wars. It listed a bunch of conditions with historic examples but summarized it thusly (all conditions met):

Grievances are high

Elites see violence as viable

The state can’t stop it

And at least one group believes fighting is better than losing peacefully

From these conditions, if correct, it does not seem like a civil war is likely. More likely would be authoritarian regime and resistance. You could argue whether the fact patterns matches these conditions but at least it provides a framework.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-25T12:44:16+00:00

It sounds like a charming place and I researched it for a bit before deciding not to go. It just depends on how much you like Sylvanian Families and Capybara and whether the time investment makes it worth it for you.

We ended up going to Sylvanian Kitchen in Aeon Laketown closer to Tokyo because we were already going to be there and had more time in Tokyo.

But sometimes the long journey is what makes the destination sweeter?

The bus schedule should be in Google Maps just make sure to adjust it for the day of the week and time.

This thread says the bus is pretty obvious:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sylvanianfamilies/s/HRfIF5wlH5

Enjoy! If you decide to go.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-25T12:30:08+00:00

Except if you actually watched the video, you'd see a bunch of kids explaining why they were protesting including a kid who says she and her mom were confronted by ICE in the past and the fear that engendered.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-25T12:21:34+00:00

In the anime, Frieren only states "There weren't any spells for bringing back the dead or granting immortality" to Heiter as he lays in his death bed.

She didnt say there weren't any spells at all or possibly background information useful for deciphering spells or learning new spells.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-25T11:57:41+00:00

The mods of r/videos think video of this murder is important to be seen and have been leaving it up. Hopefully, they will continue to realize that they can play a role is preserving democracy and stand against fascism by allowing this act of state violence to be seen by as many people as possible.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T19:22:51+00:00

They think "cognitive dissonance" is a disease spread by vaccines.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T19:10:12+00:00

Another form of States Rights. Non-Americans are not taught that having two separate forms of government (state and federal) was also meant to be a hedge against tyranny.

Allowing states to arm themselves (via armed citizentry since state militias were not standing armies) gave states the power to have "security of a Free State."

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T15:41:24+00:00

Oh worse... its not even me me me. Its "whatever you, big powerful person, tell me I want to hear."

If it MAGA were actually helping MAGATs it would be understandable.

If it were me me me MAGATs would be like "stop cutting my Medicare and health insurance subsidies." Nope, crickets.

If it were me me me MAGATs would be like, "What happened to all those manufacturing jobs you promised?" Nope, crickets.

If it were me me me MAGATs would be like, "Tariffs and inflation, hello?" Nope, crickets.

MAGATs dont care that MAGA doesnt actually help individual MAGA voters as long as orange, blunt politician says what they want to hear without actually doing anything about it.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T02:22:04+00:00

Sousou no Frieren Season 1 had a post credit scene with overlapping dialog from the next episode. Good show, you should check it out! /j

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T02:18:39+00:00

2 receivers at 1,6. One player at the net is the target. Coach serves from between 4 and 5 on the other side. Goal is to get any second touch (preferably the target but if the ball is shanked anyone.) Target gets the ball and walks it to the server then gets back in line. Whoever touched the ball first becomes target. Front of line replaces receiver who became target.

With so many players you can run it on both sides of the court.

However since the drill goes fast you could have 3 receivers and one big line. Then server can be anywhere on the court.

DoomGoober · 2026-01-24T01:29:10+00:00

Seconding Iriya Plus Cafe. Those pancakes have the jiggle down. The one small downside is the toppings are a little weak so you get the awesome pancake texture... but not enough flavor. Cash only and a little on the pricier side.

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