![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Well, that's also violently pragmatic, but the meaning is clear.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
I remember reading about one story about AI development where they were trying to teach a roomba not to bump into furniture and it just ended up reversing everywhere because they never put any sensors to let it know if it bumped into something on the back of the roomba.
Oh really when?
Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Feb 4th 2019 at 5:03:58 AM
China and Taiwan are waging war online with these dueling military propaganda videos
The Chinese and Taiwanese militaries have released dueling propaganda videos over the past two days.
The People's Liberation Army video - "My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island" - called for reunification while showing clips of Chinese fighter jets conducting encirclement drills around Taiwan.
Taiwan's military responded with a video of its own - titled "Freedom Isn't Free" - showing its armed forces preparing to repel an invasion.
Taiwan wins the "snappy title" department. Also, + 1 for the loving shots of their glorious artillery and the better music choice.
Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Feb 4th 2019 at 10:56:16 AM
Oh, bother.
No matter what, propaganda vids will never not be incredibly cheesy.
Disgusted, but not surprised
France carries out rare simulation of nuclear deterrent strike
The 11-hour mission, which included refueling, tested all phases of an attack mission involving a Rafale warplane.
"These real strikes are scheduled in the life of the weapons' system," French air force spokesman Colonel Cyrille Duvivier said. "They are carried out at fairly regular intervals, but remain rare because the real missile, without its warhead, is fired."
It did not say when the test was carried out, and officials declined to say how often they take place.
Meet Zaslon, Russia’s ultra-secretive unit
vicarious
That was a good link, AFP.
Thanks! It was a really neat article.
In other news: The Air Force is getting rid of promotion testing for Senior NCOs
So, from now on, all promotion determinations for senior NC Os will be based on promotion boards, which will mostly consist of reviewing military records to include the past five annual performance reports.
So, this will be, one way or the other, my only time testing for master sergeant, so I might as well make it count. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Edited by AFP on Feb 6th 2019 at 4:56:30 AM
Cringe but free
ProPublica article on the USS Fitzgerald collision. It's a bit editorialised here and there, but the conclusion is that critical manpower shortage, an undertrained and overworked crew, chronic equipment failure and years of maintenance backlog all contributed to the accident.
Service Secretaries Sign Joint Memo on Communications Standards
I'm just saying, it's 2019, I'm a bit troubled that we're only now getting to making official statements that the different services should be capable of talking to each other.
In the wake of a Singaporean actor (Aloysious Pang) who died while doing his national service time in New Zealand, the Singaporean Ministry of Defense said that there are risks that are to expected for Singaporeans doing NS in the military:
Singapore Armed Forces to keep relying on national service despite risks Singapore Armed Forces need keeping to rely on national service to fulfill their missions, without outsourcing dangerous tasks (Picture source: Singapore Mo D)
As reported by The Strait Times, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said well-trained servicemen contribute towards the deterrence effect as he reflected on the deaths of four servicemen in the past 16 months. There were no NS training deaths from 2013 to 2016. "We must never give up on NS that forms the backbone of our SAF for national defence," said Dr Ng.
"This imperative of NS and our national defence does not absolve or reduce the accountability of the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and the SAF in any way to ensure safe training. On the contrary, it compels Mindef and the SAF to do all that is humanly possible to prevent training deaths for NS men because we are fully aware that precious sons have been entrusted to us by their families," he added.
He was giving a ministerial statement on recent training deaths in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), including that of Singapore actor and operationally ready national serviceman (N Sman) Aloysius Pang on Jan 19 during a military exercise in New Zealand.
Maintenance work that are complex and require specialised tools and equipment are outsourced. Following the fatal incident that happened to CFC Pang, members of the public suggested reducing the need for N Smen to perform maintenance for heavy machinery, such as for artillery guns and armoured vehicles.
While acknowledging the impact of the deaths of four national servicemen since September 2017, Dr Ng explained the importance of N Smen to a strong SAF: "Without NS men, we cannot have an SAF or the Home Team that can deter terrorists from attacking Changi Airport or Jurong or harming innocent civilians in shopping malls and crowded places. Without NS men and the SAF, potential aggressors would not shy away from simply marching into and occupying today's affluent Singapore, as Iraq did to Kuwait. Without a strong defence, our air and shipping routes in and out of Singapore could easily be blocked - as Qatar now faces. These are not imaginary security threats but real - they have happened elsewhere and can occur to Singapore too."
Cringe but free
It's the same issue in every armed force: the safety and maintenance regs are there, but they often get thrown out of the window in the face of strict training KPIs and toxic enforcement techniques. Pang was also on reservist duty rather than an active NSF, so I wonder whether he was simply rusty with the SPH's innards (though then again the accident happened during maintenance, not gunnery).
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
I will believe when they do it. They have been pushing back against this for far too long.
Who watches the watchmen?
Cringe but free
Wow, I've heard of the issue but that's a lot more messed up than I would've thought.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Looks like the wreck of the USS Hornet, lost against the Japanese in 1942, has been found.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/12/us/world-war-ii-aircraft-carrier-found-south-pacific-trnd/index.html
A short doc on the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, who flew Mi Gs to train USAF pilots against the Soviets and exploit their technology.
That looks interesting. Thanks.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
What a damn mess. The US fucked up big time in Afghanistan and left a bigger mess behind.
Who watches the watchmen?
@Imca: I think a good example of this (and one that's specifically appropriate to military, actually) comes from a time I played Empire Earth. In the scenario I was playing in, there's a part where citizens were rioting. Though they can attack your units, you cannot fight back because they're your own citizens. You're supposed to build more farms to get them to stop so that you can continue with the scenario's main goal.
I, however, had a different idea: I created robotic units that exploded when killed (injuring anyone standing near it). I could then order these units to run into crowds of protesters and allow the protesters to kill them. Technically, I wasn't killing the protesters, they were getting themselves killed in the process of killing me.
This is the kind of strategy an AI might think up.
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"