From dawn to dusk you're hunched underground, making the best of things in a covered trench 6' long, 3' deep and 2 1/2' wide or so.
With your mate crammed in there with you. /2
So how easy was it for British & Canadian soldiers to keep clean and healthy in Normandy?
Couldn't be too hard, right? /1
#WW2 #SWW #History
From dawn to dusk you're hunched underground, making the best of things in a covered trench 6' long, 3' deep and 2 1/2' wide or so.
With your mate crammed in there with you. /2
They may not get you, but their rounds may well kill or maim your friends. /3
In darkness fresh, hot grub is bought up in large thermos flasks from the cooks in B Echelon. It's good hearty stuff.
The problem is the closer you are to the enemy, the more likely it'll be delayed or obliterated by an errant 155mm shell. /4
The latter is really nice.
Chocolate laced with amphetamine or high dose of caffeine.
Yum. /5
A few others sense it's time to feast.
The millions upon millions of bloated bluebottles.
They land on the living, the dead, cattle, the rotten. The food. /6
You waft away the first load, but eventually... well... feel rather like King Canute.
You tuck in. /7
You've got it.
"Compo Tummy"
"Beachhead Bully"
"Compo Sickness"
Or just, "The Shits."
Diahorrea is endemic in Normandy. But only 0.17% of those afflicted require serious medical intervention.
Almost everyone has it. /8
By night you may risk it to relieve yourself in a small hole near the trench.
By day... either go in a sludgy, disgusting mini-latrine in your trench, or discreetly risk it and crawl out, but there are snipers.
Or crap in your helmet and sling out the mess. /9
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I like this heuristic, and have a few which are similar in intent to it:
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
Here's how I'd measure the health of any tech company:
— Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror) October 25, 2018
How long, as measured from the inception of idea to the modified software arriving in the user's hands, does it take to roll out a *1 word copy change* in your primary product?
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.