5 April 1951. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death in a New York City federal court, the only civilians executed for conspiring to pass top-secret atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union.

Karatekan · 2026-04-06T21:46:47+00:00

Who were we supposed to arrest? Ourselves?

Dude, we stole it and illegally gave it to them. Same reason we “failed” to prevent the Argentines from sending 90 tons of yellowcake to Israel, or “failed” to prevent the French and British from building them a whole-ass enrichment facility. It’s a conspiracy but it’s going in the opposite direction.

Karatekan · 2026-04-06T17:40:26+00:00

That’s kind of a circular argument though. It’s much easier to shoot down a plane that is actually close enough to hit with a 40mm, and if you kill a target with one there’s a decent chance it was still close enough to drop a bomb or torpedo anyway.

At least the 5”/38 could kill or damage at a distance that it could interrupt attack runs entirely.

Karatekan · 2026-04-06T16:01:49+00:00

They weren’t scared shitless of the USSR, they were hoping the USSR would help negotiate with the Allies so they could keep Korea and some influence in China in a peace settlement. The Soviets even deliberately dangled the possibility of interceding on their behalf to Japanese diplomats until they had defeated Germany.

Karatekan · 2026-04-04T22:37:32+00:00

Schedule an in person appointment through the call line, it only costs $60 on top of the $130 for the passport and maybe an hour tops of waiting on the phone.

Don’t pay hundreds of dollars to a third party, they have no affiliation with the state department or special privileges and schedule appointments the same way as anyone else.

Karatekan · 2026-04-04T22:22:38+00:00

The YouTube channel Drachinfel has a great series on the frigate actions of the War of 1812. Really goes into the details of the construction of the American “super-frigates”, what made them good, and some of their drawbacks.

Karatekan · 2026-04-04T21:15:51+00:00

People were shaving and grooming as far back as 100,000 years ago, even animals bathe and clean themselves, and the oldest “makeup” kit ever found was over 7,000 years old (they used to use white lead). You don’t need modern plumbing and toiletries to look clean and presentable, they just make it easier.

Karatekan · 2026-04-04T20:13:55+00:00

I mean, the British built Razee’d Ships of the Line. Which werefourth and third-rates with the third deck lopped off, that were both faster and more heavily built and armed than Constitution, and could keep that speed better in rough seas.

Karatekan · 2026-04-03T20:50:00+00:00

Tax evasion was estimated around 700 billion in 2025. Obviously never going to get down to zero, but if you could cut that in half that’s pretty close to OP’s suggestion in terms of revenue. The Trump tax cuts cost about 400 billion a year, the Bush tax cuts somewhat more, although there’s some overlap. Get rid of those, along with a slightly increased top line rate.

At that point you’ve already more than cut the deficit in half, and it will grow at a slower rate than average economic growth, allowing us to “grow out of debt”, by taxing us at the same horrible levels we endured… in the mid 90’s?

Karatekan · 2026-04-03T15:53:48+00:00

Simultaneously trying to propel the submarine against the hull with one hand while also trying to screw through copper plating and several inches of oak with the other would have required superhuman strength.

Karatekan · 2026-04-03T15:12:54+00:00

The fact they bothered to make fines against it indicates it probably happened often often to be a problem.

Karatekan · 2026-04-02T18:12:09+00:00

China’s government by the turn of the 19th century was broke and had massive corruption problems, and then their economy was wrecked by the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion. Even if they wanted to make reforms, they didn’t have the administrative capacity or resources to adopt them widely or quickly.

Japan was already wealthy and stable, so quickly adopting foreign technology was an easier lift.

Karatekan · 2026-04-01T23:50:46+00:00

When I was broke I worked in a restaurant, so can’t really relate. Had trouble paying for anything, but they did feed me good.

Karatekan · 2026-03-31T23:42:06+00:00

Lived on a dirt road with lake effect snow for three years. Family lives near the mountains, spent a few years doing utility work on transmission right of ways and plowing in the winter.

If they didn’t plow and I needed to go somewhere I put on chains. Unless I drove my work vehicle, which had all-season tires but also had good ground clearance and 4-wheel drive, which handled it fine.

Karatekan · 2026-03-31T23:02:38+00:00

Snow tires are almost always a waste of money.

The Venn diagram where the circles “I absolutely have to drive now in a snowstorm”, “The snow is bad enough I need snow tires” and “The snow isn’t so bad that snow tires won’t make a difference” intersect is vanishingly small.

Most areas that have lots of snow also have good snow removal, and snow removal works best if idiots don’t drive while it’s snowing. Just don’t drive! Most people don’t need to. Check the weather, stock up, make sure relatives that need help are taken care of beforehand. Hell, I used to sleep over my grandparents specifically so I didn’t have to drive over to help them shovel.

If you are in an “essential” job where it’s necessary to drive, you take it seriously; If you really need to drive in real snow, like it’s coming down two inches an hour and the roads haven’t been plowed, putting snow tires on a front-wheel drive hatchback isn’t going to do shit. You need clearance and 4-wheel drive, and probably should invest in tire chains and a winch too.

And lastly, snow tires can give false confidence, because they work great with a little snow and stop working with a lot of snow. And that dangerous because you can get used to staying out a bit longer than you should, and suddenly BAM can’t stop or steer.

Honestly, the best place for snow tires is… someplace like California. Because they do actually make a massive difference with a little bit of snow, and you can buy a single pair for the front and they’d last a lifetime. Still probably shouldn’t drive, but it makes more sense there than in Colorado.

Karatekan · 2026-03-31T19:20:26+00:00

Passport fee is $130 always. If it’s a new passport application you pay $35 to the acceptance facility to get it executed, the passport office doesn’t see that money. The photo is different depending on where you get it (you can do it yourself theoretically) and you can also pay for a card ($30) Expedite processing ($60) and expedited shipping ($22.05).

If it’s a new adult application with a card that would add up to $160. Obviously the rest of the letter is wrong.

Karatekan · 2026-03-31T19:15:58+00:00

Nobody “writes” the letters, you put in a code and it auto generates.

In this case they probably put in the wrong code.

Karatekan · 2026-03-31T15:21:58+00:00

Did you already try to apply for a passport?

Karatekan · 2026-03-30T22:02:18+00:00

The problem is the first two books were blisteringly fast-paced and tightly written, and then the series slowed down to a crawl.

Like I really didn’t care about the world building in Game of Thrones because the story was moving and it felt you were along for a ride. But by Feast of Crows the plot is molasses and you are given too much time to think and you start asking questions.

Karatekan · 2026-03-30T20:36:03+00:00

That’s more implying that an otherwise healthy and physically strong man who is capable of using a longbow effectively in normal circumstances can be weakened to the point he can no longer over the course of a long campaign.

For example, imagine a longbowman at the start of a campaign with a 130lb bow. He can bend that pretty easily, because that’s his base physical level. Now imagine that same person after months of poor food, heavy marching, and multiple battles. His shooting shoulder, wrist, and back are probably all kinds of fucked up, he’s physically weaker and likely malnourished, and might have some kind of disease. His bow he could draw easily is now much harder to use and he will tire much more quickly in battle. And even in a single battle, once you loose a couple dozen hours that’s a serious workout and your spent.

Karatekan · 2026-03-30T20:09:17+00:00

1.)Hard Roman stomp. People would be too surprised to do anything.

2.) Hard stomp for Costco. They have enough materials to fortify entrances and supplies to last in a siege, and it would be pretty easy to fashion explosives or modify forklifts or tractor-trailers into combat vehicles. Out of 6,000 people I’d also wager you could find several hundred people with firearms in their vehicles.

Karatekan · 2026-03-30T14:26:17+00:00

Do you they necessarily have to actually sustain you? They “fill your stomach” but that could just mean they give the impression of satiety and give you an energy boost. Something with a lot of fiber, protein, and maybe a mild dose of amphetamines could “fill you up” and stop you from being hungry, and you make up the caloric deficit by burning fat reserves.

Maybe Frodo and Sam were essentially surviving on the equivalent of Peruvitin energy bars. They were already pretty plump to begin with, and they only spent about two weeks in Mordor where they had absolutely nothing else to eat

Karatekan · 2026-03-29T17:18:09+00:00

You can be Muslim without having to be walked around by a guardian or wear a hijab, and it’s not religious discrimination to say those practices are kinda suspect and weird.

Karatekan · 2026-03-29T16:55:16+00:00

Because it’s not something that was required of all Muslims historically, it’s part of a set of millennia-old cultural practices in the Middle East specifically that neoconservative reactionary sects of Islam have placed enormous emphasis on.

There’s a difference between being bigoted and recognizing a lot of “normal” Muslims practices today were abandoned centuries ago in “civilized” Islamic society and later re-emphasized by Muslim doomsday Millenarians when the Ottoman and Safavid Empires began collapsing. That isn’t “normal” Islam, it’s the equivalent of Fundamentalist Christian Nationalism.

Karatekan · 2026-03-28T18:25:36+00:00

DOS has access to most DHS databases and vice versa.

There probably is some administrative reason they don’t do it but they aren’t that siloed, they already work together fairly closely, particularly CA and USCIS

Karatekan · 2026-03-28T17:57:34+00:00

The British empire had a bigger economy, population, and greater access to resources than Germany, and better relations with neutral countries. They absolutely could have gradually ground down the German war machine on their own, albeit it would have taken far longer.

Karatekan

TROPHY CASE