About the Navy

When I was in the Navy, I was the supervisor of a work center that was tasked with keeping a large amount of equipment working- including the ship’s fire pumps. The motor on one had gone bad and needed to be sent off for repair. This motor weighed over 800 pounds and needed to be pulled out for repair. The problem was that it needed to be lifted from the machinery room to the second deck- a vertical distance of about 80 feet. We set up a chain hoist. During the lift, the hoist rig separated and sent the entire load crashing 20 feet to the bottom. In the process, it removed 3 fingers from the left hand of one of my subordinates. The safety review that followed faulted the supervisor (me) for not using a certified rigger to do supervising the lift.

A month later, a second fire pump motor failed. When we were told to get it repaired, I pointed out that I still didn’t have a rigger. They told me to do the lift anyway. When we went to do it as ordered. the padeye available had a tag on it, stating that it was rated for a working load of 800 pounds. The motor, chain hoist, and associated equipment weighed in at 1100 pounds. I told the engineer that we could not get the lift done until we had better equipment and a stronger padeye installed. An hour later, a Chief showed up and put a new label on the padeye that read “Working load 1200 pounds” and then told us to do the lift anyhow.

This is why I tend to support Captain Crozier. The military is full of career ticket punchers who care more about their own careers than they do the lives of their subordinates. That is also why I don’t believe the people who say that cops or military will refuse orders to seize guns from citizens. They care more about their careers than they do your rights.

Statistics are useless

In the past, I have pointed out that other countries do not count deaths the same as the US. For example, Australia only counts a death as being a homicide if someone is arrested and charged for the killing. If the killer dies before he can be charged, it doesn’t count as a homicide. In the UK, a death only counts as a homicide if someone is CONVICTED of the crime.

There are many areas where we see a discrepancy in statistical methods. For example, in the UK if an infant dies within 30 days of being born, that death counts as a miscarriage and does not add to their infant mortality rates. This is one of the reasons, perhaps the largest reason, that the UK has an infant mortality rate that is so much lower than the US.

In the case of the Wuhan virus, this issue rears its head again as we find out that France only counted a death as being caused by COVID-19 if the decedent died while hospitalized. Patients who died in a nursing home or at home don’t count. Until today, that is. Today, the French decided to add in the 884 people who had died in nursing homes. Those who have died at home presumably still do not count.

The point of all of this is that statistics are trash. Garbage in, garbage out.

New Yorkers

Everyone I know that is from New York views rules as something to dodge, or something that doesn’t apply to them. The guy that I posted about here fled New York yesterday because two of his friends died of COVID. He is staying in Tampa and has plans to go deep sea fishing. My in laws are hanging out at a bar that is only open to a small, select group of regulars. They refuse to abide by any sort of social distancing.
Honestly, if any of them catch COVID I will not feel sorry for them.