Well, hi there! Thanks for taking time to stop by! A treat to see you as always. Busy up there in cyberspace is it? Take a few moments...hoist a mug of coffee and munch on a virtual treat while I relate a couple of items I saw in the news that you won't believe..."
First: Comprehensive Pentagon
studies of America's nuclear missile infrastructure released in November
(following disturbing reports of readiness failures) included the
revelation that nuclear warheads had to be attached with a particular
wrench, even though the Air Force owned only one with which to service
450 missiles housed at three bases. Consequently, one official told The
New York Times, "They started FedExing the one tool" back and forth. No
one had checked in years, he said, "to see if new tools were being made"
-- typical of maintenance problems that had "been around so long that
no one reported them anymore." [New York Times, 11-13-2014]
I guess there are no hardware stores anywhere near US Airforce bases, eh.
Second: London's Daily Telegraph reported in November that a
gardener hired by the House of Commons had spent a day pulling
color-changing leaves from trees on the Westminster Palace grounds --
because it would be more cost-effective than to rake them up after they
fell. The gardener (whose name sounds right out of a James Bond
adventure -- "Annabel Honeybun") said she had 145 trees to service. (A
local environmentalist lamented denying autumn visitors "one of the few
pleasures at this time of year.") [Daily Telegraph, 11-14-2014]
One supposes Ms Honeybun's scientific analysis of the situation would have involved figuring out how long it takes to rake up all the leaves, dispose of them, clean up and enjoy a nice cup of Brooke Bond or Typhoo tea with a bikkee or two and measuring that against the alternative of plucking said leaves from 145 trees, including fetching the ladder from the storage shed, propping it up against each tree, plucking the ugly red, orange and yellow leaves, moving the ladder countless times to ensure no leaves were left unplucked, then moving on to the next tree, following the same procedure 145 times (not to mention deciding whether a leaf should be plucked that day or left until the next week when it would likely have turned another shade...followed by disposing of the leaves, returning the ladder to to the shed and then proceeding to have her cup of tea and bikkie.)
What about the psychological cost and emotional trauma caused to the public by disallowing them the pleasure of burying themselves in the above- mentioned leaves.
Thank goodness for actuarial science, what!
See ya, eh!
Bob
I guess there are no hardware stores anywhere near US Airforce bases, eh.
One supposes Ms Honeybun's scientific analysis of the situation would have involved figuring out how long it takes to rake up all the leaves, dispose of them, clean up and enjoy a nice cup of Brooke Bond or Typhoo tea with a bikkee or two and measuring that against the alternative of plucking said leaves from 145 trees, including fetching the ladder from the storage shed, propping it up against each tree, plucking the ugly red, orange and yellow leaves, moving the ladder countless times to ensure no leaves were left unplucked, then moving on to the next tree, following the same procedure 145 times (not to mention deciding whether a leaf should be plucked that day or left until the next week when it would likely have turned another shade...followed by disposing of the leaves, returning the ladder to to the shed and then proceeding to have her cup of tea and bikkie.)
Thank goodness for actuarial science, what!
See ya, eh!
Bob
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