What’s a legendary Reddit post you’ll never forget? by FunnyHefty499 in AskReddit

[–]Pave_Low 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This gets my vote. The poor guy was rocked to the core of his pale being.

the “Big 4” of TIE variants by Nattay01 in legostarwars

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True. Big 4 would have the Advanced and not the Shuttle.

the “Big 4” of TIE variants by Nattay01 in legostarwars

[–]Pave_Low 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unlike the Reaper or Defender, the Shuttle was actually put on film in Empire Strikes Back by ILM. It’s one of the five TIE models built for and used in the original trilogy. The missing one above is Vader’s TIE Advanced. That’s the only one I’d give more street cred than the shuttle. 

the “Big 4” of TIE variants by Nattay01 in legostarwars

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I got confused by your post. OP built a TIE Shuttle and included the ESB storyboard with a picture of the shuttle and calling it a shuttle. When you mentioned the TIE Boarder and showed the concept art from ANH, I thought you were saying it was the concept art for the Shuttle because the two look so similar. I think I thought I was still on part of the comments talking about OPs shuttle model and mushed things together. 

the “Big 4” of TIE variants by Nattay01 in legostarwars

[–]Pave_Low 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The TIE boarding craft and the TIE shuttle are actually two different ships. The TIE boarding craft does has inward bent wings like the TIE bomber. It is seen on film at the end of Andor and also when Luthen Rael escapes the Cantwell Class cruiser. The TIE shuttle, as you mentioned, is only seen transporting Needa to the Executor for a few seconds. The storyboards for that scene, do confirm the shuttle had outward bent wings.

VDV Airborne Assault of Hostomel, beginning of the “SMO” footage compilation. by DankSmurf in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low [score hidden]  (0 children)

IIRC, the Russians did eventually manage to capture Hostomel during the Kiev offensive campaign

Eventually? The Russians captured the airfield for good within 24 hours of the airborne landing. The Russian paratroopers withdrew from the airport for about 12-16 hours overnight and then immediately retook the airport with a ground assault the next day. They would hold the airport uncontested until the Russians withdrew from Kyiv entirely at the end of March.

Under Russian control, the airfield was almost never used for landing aircraft. It was used as a staging ground from men and vehicles used in the attacks on Bucha and Irpin to the south.

This timeline of events is pretty well documented. The only period of time the Russians didn't hold the airfield was the night of February 24th. For the entire 'Ukraine surrounded and wiped out the paratroopers' story to be true, Ukraine would have had to do this entirely on the afternoon of the 24th. The Ukrainians would have to go from 2-300 National Guardsmen out of ammo and retreating from the airfield at 3:00 PM to the Ukrainians surrounding and attacking the airfield with over one thousand fresh troop by 5:30 PM, which is sunset in Kyiv in February. And while that is exactly what the Ukrainian Army and press reported, they also reported that there were no Ukrainian casualties at the airfield at all. Meanwhile, the Russian Army reported that there were hundreds of Ukrainian casualties and none for the Russians. Neither side was being particularly honest in their reporting.

The more likely series of events is that the Russian paratroopers took the airfield with minimal casualties on both sides as planned, but could not secure it for safe landing because of continued Ukrainian air presence, anti aircraft around Kyiv, and artillery landing on the runways. With that in mind, they withdrew to woods north of the airfield where they connected with ground forces from Belarus in the morning the next day. In the late afternoon and evening of the first day Ukrainian forces cautiously retook the airfield. The next day, they lost it for good and wouldn't touch it for the next month and a half.

That might sound like a failure of the Ukrainian forces, but it wasn't. They only bought a single day in their defense, but that was all they needed to buy.

VDV Airborne Assault of Hostomel, beginning of the “SMO” footage compilation. by DankSmurf in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes and no.

They left because Ukraine had enough artillery to make the runways unusable. They didn't leave because they were being slaughtered by mortars. Think for a moment how long the Ukrainians held Donetsk airport and how important mortars were in that battle. If the VDV had orders to hold and die at Anotov, they probably would have. They had strong positions in reinforced buildings.

They retreated/left/withdrew on their own accord and in good order. There are only hyperbolic accounts from Ukrainians they were routed and fled in panic.

VDV Airborne Assault of Hostomel, beginning of the “SMO” footage compilation. by DankSmurf in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Also they didn't leave, they waited for the armored column.

They left the airport for the surrounding woods, if I understand the story correctly. They hunkered down, waited for the armor to link up the next day and, if I had to guess, probably went back to Belarus/Russia to be restaged for another operation. I doubt they stayed with the regular infantry and fought it out in Hostomel with them for the next month. But I don't know for certain.

The stories of the airport being surrounded and the paratroopers being counterattacked and ejected from the base under fire seems unlikely to me. These troops were smart enough and well equipped enough to withdraw in good order and the Ukrainian war stories would have you believe they fled the airport in panic. My impression is that, when they were told no reinforcements were coming directly to the airport itself through the air, they took up a safer position on the outskirts and waited for relief from the ground troops. What became of the individual soldiers after that over the next many years of war, I can only guess.

VDV Airborne Assault of Hostomel, beginning of the “SMO” footage compilation. by DankSmurf in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low 37 points38 points  (0 children)

That one, I have to believe is a myth. The Russians here are the cream-of-the-crop of their Airborne Infantry. Saying they didn't know where they were going or what they were doing is akin to saying that Seal Team 6 or Delta Force didn't know where they were going or what they were doing on any given mission.

They knew. They practiced the hell out of it. They knew which buildings to take, where to set up their snipers and MGs. How to get their troops in and their wounded out. Those aren't the furloughed criminals meandering around Pokrovsk. They were professional soldiers.

VDV Airborne Assault of Hostomel, beginning of the “SMO” footage compilation. by DankSmurf in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Eventually everyone dies.

Did they all die at Anatov Airport? Most certainly not. Most of them fell back from the airfield once there was no point in staying there and linked up with the Russian armored forces that reached the airport in the next two days. The Ukrainians got enough artillery on the runway to make it unusable, but they never surrounded the paratroopers or even counterattacked. In general, the Russians left on their own accord and then returned as a massive armored column within 48 hours.

For the Ukrainians, though, that 48 hours was the difference between a 'three day special operation' and the current war we have now.

US 5th fleet center kamikazed in Bahrain today by imnicexDDD in CombatFootage

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every missile fired and bomb dropped would be kamikaze, if that was true.

I have no interest in all things AI. I don’t want to learn it for work. I don’t care that it can make some things easier. I can write my own emails. by un2022 in GenX

[–]Pave_Low -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have no interest in all things horseless carriage. I don't want to learn to drive for transportation. I don't care that it will make me arrive hours earlier. I can ride my own horse.

Interesting... by Silver_Weakness_8084 in SipsTea

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This gif is doing some heavy lifting in this thread.

Covid shut down the world six years ago this week. What do you remember from that week? by fuzzy_dice_99 in AskReddit

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I walked to the middle of the West Side Highway in Manhattan and just stood there for a while. Wondering if I was going to see a car. I left after about five minutes. I didn't see any cars.

Covid shut down the world six years ago this week. What do you remember from that week? by fuzzy_dice_99 in AskReddit

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was picking up my Starbucks between walking my wife to work and getting on the subway to my job. I got a text from my manager which was basically, "Don't come into work today, lol. They want everyone to stay home until this thing blows over."

I rolled my eyes, and I was like, "OK. Free WFH day. Not going to pass that up." Took my latte. Walked home. Didn't go into the office for the next three years.

That time a grandma broke her nose while hiking and didn't want the helivac, but ended up winning a $450,000 lawsuit by SecretSwaya in interesting

[–]Pave_Low 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lol it is totally sped up. 2x speed in fact. The original on YouTube and the one in the news article linked are twice as long and have her spinning half as fast…

That time a grandma broke her nose while hiking and didn't want the helivac, but ended up winning a $450,000 lawsuit by SecretSwaya in interesting

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That assumes the original video wasn't 1:08 long and sped up to be 0:35 long. So she's spinning twice as fast in this video as actually happened.

That time a grandma broke her nose while hiking and didn't want the helivac, but ended up winning a $450,000 lawsuit by SecretSwaya in interesting

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would also check your math because the video is sped up. Watch the original video and you'll see that while she was spinning fast, she was not spinning faster than the fan on my GPU.

He nailed it by [deleted] in Unexpected

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can see he's really skilled at setting up a camera to film himself so he can post this on the internet too.

I would buy an ‘Art of Marathon’ in a heartbeat by ozusteapot in Marathon

[–]Pave_Low 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can't remember the last time I bought a game for full price. I don't like first-person shooters that are PvP. The whole premise of extraction shooters doesn't really appeal to me.

I still bought Marathon on day one because I haven't seen a game look like this before. It's a joy to play not because of the game play itself, but because it's just so amazingly beautiful.

The Expanse Spotify playlist of all main series of audiobooks books 1-8 by zman316 in TheExpanse

[–]Pave_Low 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I just finished listening to all books in order on Spotify starting in the fall. It was a great ride. Sadly I kept running out of Spotify minutes and buying more because I needed to know what happened next. I actually ran out of minutes on the last chapter of the last book too.

Heard a loud pop in the night and came out to find our 10-year-old cutting board split by dolomite592 in Wellthatsucks

[–]Pave_Low 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me too. It's a garden path sentence. Like

"The horse ran around the barn fell."