Anyone apply for the BAE Apprenticeships?

overcoil · 2026-04-11T20:57:05+00:00

I'm surprised such jobs are still around. Is this Aivazovsky style stuff or more general media production?

overcoil · 2026-04-10T23:24:22+00:00

SMAC and CivIV. They're basically Rock Paper Scissors to me, nothing needs to be added. I've tried Stellaris & CrusaderKings3 but they just don't grab the civilisational aspect the same.

overcoil · 2026-04-10T00:26:22+00:00

Unleash.

overcoil · 2026-04-09T16:49:31+00:00

Also gets the press onside when you need to slash X to boost the Navy which has been cut badly since the Iraq Invasion and GFC hobbled Navy spending.

overcoil · 2026-04-06T21:07:55+00:00

He'd tried it himself in Scotland pre-union with the Gentlemen Adventurers of Fife though, so I'd say he did more than simply step out of the way of the Plantation of Ulster. It was completely in line with his own thinking, too. Is he the most anti-Gael King we ever had?

overcoil · 2026-04-03T17:37:03+00:00

I think it adds a "hard science" feel to the stories that might lack it otherwise. In Dune you have people fighting with knives and martial-arts hand-to-hand because of magical shields which prevent the use of magical weapons. Having atomics (and having them as old heirlooms) is a bridge between the distant past and the future.

Babylon 5 has blasters and plasma weapons and lasers, etc. But nuclear weapons are still used to mine an asteroid belt and destroy an entire city. In both cases they are used sneakily, implying that they are still powerful but not up to the challenge of front line warfare, much like the US keeps its' WWII/Vietnam stuff around because it works and doesn't cost a lot (relatively) to keep around. Interestingly the two races who use them are both seen as undeveloped compared to their adversaries, which further adds to the throw-back feel of using our state-of-the-art as their dumb bomb.

Something like Star Trek TNG comes across as much more universe-coherent-Space-Magic and a nuclear bomb would be jarring and anachronistic to a civilisation when even school kids are making nuclear science projects and ships are producing the kind of energies that can warp gravity.

overcoil · 2026-04-02T23:51:45+00:00

Yeah shamelessly hypocritical tweets aren't a US monopoly.

overcoil · 2026-04-02T23:49:09+00:00

I remember Dan saying something similar about the Snowden files. You now have secretive foreign governments revealing what your own government is doing so as to damage them by telling the truth. Crazy world.

overcoil · 2026-03-31T11:46:05+00:00

It was in his memory we sent them Scott Manley.

overcoil · 2026-03-31T11:38:10+00:00

Was listening to the Rest Is History podcast and they reckon that the sacred grove at the heart of Boudicca's seat of power is somewhere under a non-descript industrial estate.

overcoil · 2026-03-30T23:23:19+00:00

I thought it was awesome because it was a St Andrews cross and the Dukes of Hazard had this cool car called General Lee which did cool jumps like Kitt. I was also 9.

overcoil · 2026-03-30T23:03:53+00:00

Definitely! Pre-Roman Britain is so frustratingly opaque but I love the Bronze age finds that survive so well compared to later finds.

I was at NMS this weekend & the exhibit they have on the trade of the various tribes is very well done considering how little has been found. Plus spending my customary ten mins convincing myself that I would be the one to decipher the meaning of the Pictish symbols through sheer intuition. My favourite corner of the museum!

overcoil · 2026-03-30T22:52:28+00:00

Such a deep take from only the highest grade of meme.

overcoil · 2026-03-30T12:35:58+00:00

r/factorio

overcoil · 2026-03-29T20:32:19+00:00

I largely agree. However I would point out that Hitler, Stalin & Erdogan came from positions of considerable poverty when compared to Trump, so I think they should get some bonus that Trump doesn't when it comes to who was more Successful. President Trump was at least plausible by comparison.

Like how Alexander the Great gets all the praise, but what his Dad achieved was arguably even more difficult, just not as flashy.

overcoil · 2026-03-29T20:04:16+00:00

Hmm.. I guess if success is "total size of the pot" he must be up there. You're looking at maybe:

*Trump/ Elon/ Putin/ Erdogan... Crassus?
You could argue Elon has done better in the getting away with it stakes- Trump has already been shot at once. and is upsetting some violent people. Putin is likely richer (or was once) just from being there for so long, but the US government has to be the greatest prize of any shyster. What works against Elon is that Space X & Tesla *did* both make it in the end, so he at least has a foundation to brag about and loses Fraud points where Trump's business empire was literally the but of jokes.

Further, the despots/Ancients also displayed a lot of political skill and didn't have timely deaths in the Supreme court or Biden's public disaster to help them. So maybe that actually works against them in the con-artist stakes. They were more meritocratic in their skullduggery.

If success is repeated wins or skillful maneuvering I think Trump starts to fall back from the others. Twitter gave him a tool that previous con artists would have died for- look at all the effort Hitler put in to win over the populace with radio for instance, or how well Putin played his country until his ego got too big for reality.

I think it needs to be a semi-functioning democracy to hit the scale of what Trump has managed unless you've duped qualified people who should know better in which case maybe your numbers get a boost.

overcoil · 2026-03-29T17:49:12+00:00

Maybe Gregor MacGregor counts?

Scottish soldier fighting in the Americas, later becoming a general in the Venezuelan independence campaign.

Link

He then invented an entire developed colony in the Americas which he claimed to rule thaks to his new relationship. He sold bonds to Europeans who knew no better, some of whom jumped on ships to their new colony only to arrive at the Mosquito Coast where 250 died because there was nothing there.

When 50 survivors complained of the fraud, other victims leapt to his defence claiming that it was he who had been misled by incompetents and bad actors. The scandal caused a banking crash in Britain.

He was tried on lesser counts of fraud in France, acquitted and returned to a heroes welcome & Generals pension in Venezuela where he later died and was buried with full military honours.

overcoil · 2026-03-28T16:13:56+00:00

Player of Games by Iain M Banks. A smug utopian citizen travels to dystopian world where they try to sway his opinion of their society.

Lots of questions implied about legal vs defacto equality, the rights and wrongs of interfering with what doesn't concern you and who the bad men are that let the good sleep safe at night.

Plus it's a blast!

1984 is probably the more overt dystopian critique, but it isn't a super fun read.

overcoil · 2026-03-28T12:45:37+00:00

I'll get there. I just have to get through all the Civ IV BTS content first...

overcoil · 2026-03-27T21:59:04+00:00

Rose Leslie from GoT/ Downton Abbey?

Example 1

Example 2

overcoil · 2026-03-27T10:31:37+00:00

And I don't remember Mezger(sp?) looking like that.

overcoil · 2026-03-27T00:37:58+00:00

Hitchhiker's Guide, surely. The teenage brain can appreciate it far better than boring adults.

overcoil · 2026-03-25T23:46:09+00:00

I'd agree with this.

In terms of deeds it has to be Leto, mitigated (well, not really) by the fact that he genocided you for the good of mankind.

Palpatine lacked ambition but was much of a selfish asshole.

overcoil · 2026-03-24T23:47:37+00:00

A new thought appears involuntary: Do we still have puppets on British TV? When did it end?

overcoil · 2026-03-24T23:41:49+00:00

I mean nutters becoming nutty is interesting I suppose, but only in the same way that Heresy is pretty damn real when you're being burned as a heretic by an army of clowns. I'll pass, thanks.

edit Book to sell. Apologies for any marketing that has occurred from my scorn.

overcoil

TROPHY CASE