The Off Topic Topic

[Grey Fox]

I know of no way to know that you have been defriended other than going to that person's page.

[Caliga]

On a related note, there is a way to (sort of) tell who has been looking at your profile on Facebook, though it's not exactly obvious.  If you go to the Friend Suggestions page and happen to see random people who you aren't mutually friended with on there, it's probably because they were browsing your profile.  Of course, if someone who you are mutually friended with looks at your profile, it wouldn't be obvious that's the reason they're on that list (as opposed to just because you have mutual friends).

[The Larch]

I wouldn't know because my sister died long before puberty, so I only have a brother now.

Woah, had you ever told us that?

[KRonn]

I wouldn't know because my sister died long before puberty, so I only have a brother now.

So sad, sorry to hear.   

My kid brother died at eleven yo. I was seventeen. Such a tough time on the family, parents especially. I always gave my parents a lot of credit for staying together as a lot of parents drift apart and such after a child dies.   

[Caliga]

Woah, had you ever told us that?

It's come up from time to time but I don't typically have a reason to talk about it.

[The Larch]

Woah, had you ever told us that?

It's come up from time to time but I don't typically have a reason to talk about it.

Well, it felt like a bomb, I was not aware of it.

[lustindarkness]

I don't remember hearing about it either. Of course, I don't remember much of anything anyway.

[MadImmortalMan]

German army to procure more than 100 additional Leopard 2 tanks
Fri Apr 10, 2015 9:15am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to procure more than 100 additional Leopard 2 tanks, a government spokesman said on Friday, as it seeks to ensure its troops are ready for action in response to concerns over recent Russian assertiveness.

The decision to restock its military comes as NATO tries to hasten the response time of its rapid reaction force following Russia's annexation of Crimea last year and conflict in Ukraine.

"The ministry has decided to raise the upper limit for the future to 328," a defense ministry spokesman told a regular government news conference on Friday, confirming a report by German magazine Spiegel.

Just before the end of the Cold War, in the 1980s, the then West Germany had more than 3,500 tanks. Now, seventy years after World War Two, it has just 225. As a result soldiers have to share tanks and heavy equipment across different units.

Given NATO's new goals on flexibility and rapid reaction time, Germany has to ensure that it can deploy troops with the correct equipment to the right place in a short period of time, the spokesman said.

"This can only succeed if the equipment does not need to be first moved around through the country," he said.

The Leopard tanks are made by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

Germany only has two hundred tanks? What the hell.

[Valmy]

Austerity at work.

[Habbaku]

What does Germany need more for?  The USA will pick up the task of defending them in any real situation.  I am surprised they don't just disband their military entirely and save the billions.

[Valmy]

What does Germany need more for?  The USA will pick up the task of defending them in any real situation.  I am surprised they don't just disband their military entirely and save the billions.

But...but....evil Amerikkka!

[Caliga]

I don't remember hearing about it either. Of course, I don't remember much of anything anyway.

She died when she was 2.  Medical malpractice and my parents sued the shit out of the hospital.  I was only 4 when she died so I don't remember too much about it and they don't like to talk about it either, so I don't ask.

[lustindarkness]

I don't remember hearing about it either. Of course, I don't remember much of anything anyway.

She died when she was 2.  Medical malpractice and my parents sued the shit out of the hospital.  I was only 4 when she died so I don't remember too much about it and they don't like to talk about it either, so I don't ask.

That sucks.

[crazy canuck]

My twin sister died at birth.  Not the same though as I didn't even find out about it until I was in my teens.

[MadImmortalMan]

Cal's parents went through sheer hell with that, I'm sure.