Interesting Links for 14-02-2012
- What I've Learned About Smart People.
(tags: questions intelligence ) - A female apostle was erased from the bible during the middle ages.
(tags: censorship christianity religion women ) - Metal substitutes are being tested to deter thieves
(tags: materials uk crime metal ) - The Geek Social Fallacies of Sex.
(tags: sex social geeks feminism ) - ( Read more... )
The first paragraph of the report on the MOD has some of the most pointless adding up I’ve ever seen. 26 years of combined delay.
A combined overrun of £6bn, that means something. That means that there is £6bn less cash available to someone somewhere. From the point of view of a tax payer it’s not first order important if £5.5bn of that £6bn came from one project or was equally spread. The Big Take Away is that we’re £6bn down.
A total of 26 years delay doesn’t mean anything. If spread across all 15 projects it averages out at 1 ¾ years. Which might be a lot on a three year project to build a new jeep but not so long on a twenty year project to re-design a nuclear submarine. If the time splipage were concentrated on one project that might mean a very different situation. A 20 year delay on replacing our nuclear submarines might mean that we don’t have a nuclear deterent for a decade.* Or you end up with a Nimrod project which is so delayed that it is obsolete. Which would be a bit more of a worry than having to wait a couple of years extra for a new jeep.
*Obvously YMMV on whether you think this is a problem but I suggest that if you don’t want a nuclear deterent so very much better not to have paid one.
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