this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

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What is this recurring connection between big missiles sending men to the moon and the military industrial complex sending expeditionary forces overseas?

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[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Dude…

The US has always been at war.

All empires are always at war…

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, but Vietnam was a pinnacle of sorts, and Iran started pushing really hard and fast as launch day approached...

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Draftee casualties in a US proxy war.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Vietnam wasn't a proxy war for the US, it was a proxy war for Russia.

There were orders of magnitude MORE draftee causalities for the US in WWII than Viet Nam.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In percentages or raw numbers?

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I just went down a mini rabbit hole.

WW2: 10 million drafted, 16 million in the service. 400,000 casualties overall. I couldn't find anything that split casualty figures by volunteer/drafted status.

Vietnam: 1.9 million conscripted. About 17,000 casualties among the drafted.

[–] mech@feddit.org 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No matter when you launch the rocket, the US will be in some war overseas.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 6 points 1 month ago

No matter when you launch the rocket, the US will be losing some war overseas

Ftfy

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Pretty sure Artemis was in the works long before this. If you want to talk suspiciously convenient timing, look at the intervention in Venezuela just before before Iran.

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Artemis has been in the works for over 20 years, this is the first time the project didn't get delayed for ... reasons.

[–] hank@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wasn’t Artemis II meant to launch in 2023?

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 2 points 1 month ago

I believe it has been pushed back multiple times.

[–] morto@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

The space race and proxy wars were a huge part of the cold war, and now, many things point to some kind of new cold war. I'm surprised by the amount of people claiming that there's no connection.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Monument building is the reaction of a scared nation. It's historically been a cheap way to boost national unity