Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 140 posts

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#71

Post by mludlum »

guimarin wrote: post #60
stormcloud wrote: post #53

I can only imagine this is an error, but apparently Brevard County, FL has received at least 61 helicopters... 8 of them worth $18m a piece. Someone tell me this is misreported? There is no way a county of ~500k people could need 61 helicopters, rght?

You don't think they 'actually spend $20k on a hammer, $30k on a toilet seat, do you'[1]? If this is not an error, I think we just found the best justification I've seen for making all budgets/purchases etc. in government publicly available via API, as this and the ones below are amazing finds. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/quotes?item=qt1534129

Jefferson county in WV did pay $189 per a latrine though...

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#72

Post by partacus »

Sorted from most greedy to least, wow, look at Florida:

State Amount FL $252,801,365.49 AL $117,321,970.75 TX $93,960,116.66 CA $92,199,594.55 TN $88,036,810.05 GA $74,258,127.54 IL $63,856,929.46 SC $49,446,894.25 MI $43,557,552.29 IN $43,153,872.84 OH $41,066,993.83 KY $38,672,666.63 PR $37,712,132.94 AZ $37,173,754.35 OK $26,113,459.50 NM $25,077,905.94 NY $24,920,353.44 VA $24,257,646.82 NJ $24,075,459.47 WA $23,543,976.61 AR $21,806,380.46 DC $21,741,478.09 LA $20,327,539.50 CO $17,701,285.74 MO $17,481,149.80 NC $17,296,016.90 DE $12,483,178.35 ME $12,048,389.87 MA $11,878,711.88 WI $10,122,693.61 WV $8,970,650.95 MT $8,943,135.43 NH $8,806,115.87 MN $8,580,400.72 CT $7,920,540.33 IA $7,493,026.26 ID $7,491,468.74 MD $7,049,130.61 OR $6,891,336.22 PA $5,942,289.17 NV $5,836,317.88 GU $5,466,524.59 NE $5,430,787.55 RI $4,812,144.16 WY $4,575,149.39 KS $4,009,658.36 ND $3,871,164.59 UT $2,264,747.07 MS $1,791,294.53 SD $1,771,105.98 VT $1,609,630.11 AK $706,554.76 HI $521,054.41 VI $228,504.00

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#73

Post by superuser2 »

guimarin wrote: post #60
stormcloud wrote: post #53

I can only imagine this is an error, but apparently Brevard County, FL has received at least 61 helicopters... 8 of them worth $18m a piece. Someone tell me this is misreported? There is no way a county of ~500k people could need 61 helicopters, rght?

You don't think they 'actually spend $20k on a hammer, $30k on a toilet seat, do you'[1]? If this is not an error, I think we just found the best justification I've seen for making all budgets/purchases etc. in government publicly available via API, as this and the ones below are amazing finds. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/quotes?item=qt1534129

Not to excuse it all, because I'm sure there's plenty of waste and fraud, but sometimes militaries/governments need things that are more robust than the seemingly just-as-good civilian alternatives.

Why doesn't Curiosity run on a Dell Inspiron? Why can't the President drive a used Honda Civic? Why can't the drone programs just retrofit toy helicopters?

(Hint: there are good answers to all of these questions.)

I've always found this West Wing clip interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9kH_HOUXM

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#74

Post by grecy »

stormcloud wrote: post #53

I can only imagine this is an error, but apparently Brevard County, FL has received at least 61 helicopters... 8 of them worth $18m a piece. Someone tell me this is misreported? There is no way a county of ~500k people could need 61 helicopters, rght?

> There is no way a county of ~500k people could need 61 helicopters, rght?

Need has nothing to do with it.

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#75

Post by nroach »

nightpool wrote: post #68
thewopr wrote: post #16

Quick question, is the apache license really the most relevant for a dataset? Does that license apply? I ask only because I'm planning on doing something similar.

IANAL, but I'm not actually sure datasets like these CAN be copyrighted. Copyright rewards "original creative expression", (Feist v. Rural Telephone Service) not just effort, and I know things like phone books and other databases aren't protected by copyright. Generally, compilation protection is limited to things like charts and graphs, were the author has actually shown creative input into how the data is presented…

The leading case on this is Feist, a telephone book case. http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm As an interesting note, the phone company had been introducing fake listings: "Four of these were fictitious listings that Rural had inserted into its directory to detect copying." For copyright, originality is a constitutional requirement and copyright cannot attach to a bare compilation of known facts. However, "if the compilation author clothes facts with an original collocation of words, he or she may be able to claim a copyright in this written expression."

The court held that "the names, towns, and telephone numbers copied by Feist were not original to Rural and therefore were not protected by the copyright in Rural's combined white and yellow pages directory. As a constitutional matter, copyright protects only those constituent elements of a work that possess more than a de minimis quantum of creativity."

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#77

Post by ajackfox »

giarc wrote: post #40
crazypyro wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's 84 total grenade launchers in the data set, if you are curious. Florida took twice as many as CA (36 to 18) and the rest of the states with them are under 10. Why Florida needs so many is another question... Also interestingly, Montgomery got all 9 of AL's grenade launchers, more than Sacramento or LA took. edit: actually, this data is wrong because I only used the first page, didn't even see the other 3....

Why does any police force need a grenade launcher? Unless these are used for tear gas or something.

The grenade launchers are M79's, and can be used for tear gas and other non-lethal rounds. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M79_grenade_launcher#Ammunition

Now about the quantity some PD's ordered... that's a different story.

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#78

Post by barsonme »

amcnett wrote: post #49
barsonme wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Puyallup, Washington and we've received (what I believe to be) an MRAP. (It looks like one, but I've yet to see it outside of the building so I haven't gotten a very good look at it.) It's housed in the police/fire station downtown. Puyallup is a "city" of just under 40,000. Our crime isn't even too horrible ( http://www.piercecountycrimedata.org/NeighborhoodCrime/index... ) But we have an MRAP. It might be…

Maybe the MRAP was requested in the event that the Puyallup Fair (the WA state fair for the uninitiated) gets totally out of control. RE: the meth labs, etc. it would be interesting to see usage data for the equipment. Who knows...if an occupied meth lab is raided every week, the vehicle could make sense (not that I have any tactical expertise in the slightest).

Haha, you actually made me laugh by saying Puyallup fair. It will never be the Washington state fair in my eyes!

Anyway, good point about the fair. It's a big event... much bigger than the pumpkin festival that Keene, NH got its MRAP for.

I wonder if there's a way to get that information. I'd like to see how the gear's being used. Judgements aside, I think it'd be interesting to see.

I organized Washington's results, if anybody's interested: http://www.ericlagergren.com/blog/washington-military-surplu...

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#79

Post by barsonme »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #51
barsonme wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Puyallup, Washington and we've received (what I believe to be) an MRAP. (It looks like one, but I've yet to see it outside of the building so I haven't gotten a very good look at it.) It's housed in the police/fire station downtown. Puyallup is a "city" of just under 40,000. Our crime isn't even too horrible ( http://www.piercecountycrimedata.org/NeighborhoodCrime/index... ) But we have an MRAP. It might be…

I live in Walla Walla and I don't see our MRAP in the NYT spreadsheet, but here's the article: http://union-bulletin.com/news/2014/apr/16/walla-walla-swat-... . Absolute madness.

Apparently Walla Walla received two "mine resistant vehicles"

I organized the list here: http://www.ericlagergren.com/blog/washington-military-surplu...

(pardon the link to my own blog!)

Re: NY Times releases military surplus gear data on GitHub

#80

Post by whyaduck »

rrggrr wrote: post #34

Disappointed but I guess not surprised to see the small number of helicopters, armored vehicles and assault rifles provided to southern border states. Federal government appears happy to distribute heavy weapons anywhere except where they are needed most as evidenced by actual incidents.

As a resident of Arizona, I can tell you that however inefficient and/or incompetent you think the federal government's border agencies are, most of the state and county agencies in this state are far worse. I'd prefer some of them have nothing more deadly than a water pistol (especially the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - headed by the country's most corrupt un-indicted law enforcement official). Local law enforcement officials are generally competent and savvy enough to want nothing to do with the kind of work you seem to imply they should be doing.
Post reply on HN