The Pankian Metaphor 3182

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:21:54 -0500, Jeff Teunissen

To put it mildly, I dislike eBay.

That database disliked `War Games'.. I liked it a lot. The plot, that the human operators of the missile systems were not dependable in running strikes against the USSR in case of a first strike from there, of whatever sort, reminded me of the Schlieffen (sp?) plan that the German Army had worked out around 1895 or so, planning their actions in case of war, the plan would automatically send several German Armies through Northern France in a gigantic pincer movement to encircle the French army. The plan had a bad outcome, it drew all of Europe into the War, a worse outcome, the entry of Russian troops into East Prussia made the German Officer Corps withdraw troops from the West to defend the East, when they arrived, L & H1 had already defeated the Russians, but the movement, along with the fact that the German Army never had enough troops to encircle the French Army, meant that Von Kluck was forced to move in a smaller pincers movement, the newly introduced airplanes allowed the French to spot this, and the rest is the sad history of the 20th century. The S. plan did not allow for real world events. Neither did WOPR. Most computer programs have to be tested in alpha and beta before being trusted.. How do you test programs (plans?) that can only be tested under conditions of actual war.?

As always, rant, rant (Was cromwells's time the first use of the word `Ranter'?), and its raining again.

1 And Franzosisch (sp?)

-- greymaus Just Another Grumpy Old Man