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Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

gcaptain.com

161–170 of 206 posts

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also like the part of looking sharp, this is also a non-zero factor in any field, including IT. Between two professionals, if one looks sharp, clean and fit, while the other one does not, it is hard not to conclude one has also more self discipline.

This bias is a consequence of what Kahneman called “What You See Is All There Is.” It’s bad logic and ascribing signal when it’s actually projections of the observer. That isn’t to say there is no effect - people might start to see themselves as more disciplined if they look sharp. “Look good, play good”, as my coach used to say.

I think it's like how in sexual selection, many animals display traits that take additional energy to maintain. The theory is that this is selected for since if a potential mate is able to display these traits while still being alive and healthy, then that is some sort of proof of good genetics.

If a company can put energy into looking sharp while also staying in business, that proves some sort of viability/success of the business. There seem to be a few qualities you could have to achieve this, discipline being one of them. But, even if it's discipline that's being used to look sharp, that doesn't mean it transfers to the work the business produces -- all we know is that they're still in business and are successful enough to look sharp. For all we know they could use shady practices, under-deliver, know how to protect themselves contractually, and extract wealth from large inefficient organizations.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Navy pays officers very generously across all fields, EXCEPT medicine and JAG. URL JOs will take a pay cut for the first several years (at least) after leaving for the civilian sector. I never, ever heard a URL peer get out because of financial reasons. FWIW, BAH (pay for housing that is tax-free) is $4000 for an O-6 in Point Loma v. $2777 in Offut, NE. Seems to be aggressive adjustment, no? Enlisted pay might be…

>JAG >URL JOs >BAH if only i knew what any of those words mean. Why haven't people learned to describe their abbreviation unless they already pre-established that the audience will definitely know them?

JAG was a TV show for like 10 years. Judge Advocate General. Lawyers.

BAH has a description in parens immediately following, but could be better.

Why do people on technical message board with lots of jargon refuses to do even a modicum of research? If I didn't drop a description of a monad after I said it here would you also be mad? How about Term Sheets. I see Alpha used all the time and I have to look it up.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#163
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's obvious that some level of support staff are a good idea. Now make an argument that the current arrangement is more optimal than the one we might end up with if there were more doctors.

That part is obvious. Regardless of the number of physicians, they will always be the most expensive resources. Thus any procedure which can safely and legally be performed by less expensive resources, should be.

That is scarcity thinking.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Navy physician who has dealt with COVID and fatigue, I think the chronic low pay contributes to a lack of people which leads to overwork, exhaustion, a sort of "this is my lot in life" acceptance of mild to moderate depression. And you get to the point you just look away for your own sanity. Healthcare workers get paid less as you get closer to the coasts. And military gets only very modest pay adjustments for h…

The Navy pays officers very generously across all fields, EXCEPT medicine and JAG. URL JOs will take a pay cut for the first several years (at least) after leaving for the civilian sector. I never, ever heard a URL peer get out because of financial reasons. FWIW, BAH (pay for housing that is tax-free) is $4000 for an O-6 in Point Loma v. $2777 in Offut, NE. Seems to be aggressive adjustment, no? Enlisted pay might be…

$4000 is a (maybe nice?) 2 bedroom apartment in Point Loma at current rates

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#165
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That part is obvious. Regardless of the number of physicians, they will always be the most expensive resources. Thus any procedure which can safely and legally be performed by less expensive resources, should be.

That is scarcity thinking.

Yes resources will always be scarce and we need to manage accordingly. That is reality.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only ~30% of people on HN are from the US and I'd assume that the number of non-US people who watched NCIS in the original language are comparatively low.

> Only ~30% of people on HN are from the US Does anyone have time to cite a source for this? I was thinking this number was a lot higher.

Sure! There are no definitive numbers, but we have a few data points:

Dang mentions quite often that HN has a very international readership, for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23363430 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23438403 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27052434

An old poll with 32% US (probably the number I remembered): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13819771

There's also a recent poll w/ 47% (2346 of 4891), although this might be timing related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30210378

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#167
Even if we don't feel materially richer, we take for granted how steady quality-of-life improvements have continued to progress. People just don't want to do the kind of work we did 40 years ago.

This is why "worker productivity" is one of the most important measures of innovation. If we've been sending out the same number of dudes to chip and paint for the last 100 years, that's a good sign that technology is lagging or has been underinvested in.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#168
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that’s not keeping up with inflation over the same period?

Trying to gently improve public discourse, I’d suggest that we don’t need to speculate when something is so easy to look up: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%24160B+in+2022+convert...

$100 > $80.

Meta: (1) Oh, that's cool, using Wolfram to look up inflation data! I'll try to remember that.

(2) "Trying to gently... I'd suggest..." strikes me the same as "With the greatest respect..." Maybe just post the link next time.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Navy pays officers very generously across all fields, EXCEPT medicine and JAG. URL JOs will take a pay cut for the first several years (at least) after leaving for the civilian sector. I never, ever heard a URL peer get out because of financial reasons. FWIW, BAH (pay for housing that is tax-free) is $4000 for an O-6 in Point Loma v. $2777 in Offut, NE. Seems to be aggressive adjustment, no? Enlisted pay might be…

>JAG >URL JOs >BAH if only i knew what any of those words mean. Why haven't people learned to describe their abbreviation unless they already pre-established that the audience will definitely know them?

Since this doesn’t seem to be answered down thread- URL refers to Unrestricted Line officers, for example officers in the aviation, surface or submarine warfare communities etc. Restricted line officers can be found in the medical, supply, or intelligence communities etc. A third type of officer, and one of my personal favorite abbreviations, is the Direct Input Limited Duty Officer. DILDOs are required to have prior enlisted experience, but not required to have a bachelors degree. Restricted line officers and DILDOs could be given command of a training unit, or medical facility, but would not be given command of a ship or squadron.

Re: Top navy admiral wants rust-free ships

#170
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That "logic" could also be reversed just as easily. Someone with poor professional skills might feel more pressure to compensate by "looking sharp". Neither is actually "logic" but just post hoc justification of bias that generalizes a subset of cases without any data on their prevalence when in reality, that prevalence is highly contextual. In my experience, some people place a high priority and gain significant ple…

> Someone with poor professional skills might feel more pressure to compensate by "looking sharp". To look sharp and fit you HAVE to be disciplined. That's a fact. Yours, is a speculation. That is a difference. Notice that I have never said that being a disciplined individual, which is a fact for who takes lots of care about himself implies a better professional, or a more self disciplined worker. That being said, im…

> to look sharp and fit you HAVE to be disciplined. That's a fact.

Again, not in my experience. There are other ways to be fit than a rigorous workout scheme and diet. Some people are fit as a side effect of something they love to do. A mountain biking enthusiast doesn't have to be disciplined to be fit, just a little obsessed. Some people have obsessive body issues and their level of exercise is the result of an unhealthy lack of discipline. You are whitewashing a complex topic with your bias and stating it as an unassailable fact.

I think it is easy to confuse obsession with discipline sometimes. I think the obsessed tend to outperform the disciplined in their areas of focus and the combination of the two can lead to quite incredible things.

Edit: I will say that a lack of fitness can be a sign of a lack of discipline IF you know the context of the goals and priorities of that individual, but as a stand alone signal, it is meaningless without specific contexts.

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