Polish jokes

[JeffM]

3 recent (civil) engineering screwups in Poland
that are even funnier because they're true:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=8072

 

[JeffM]

Chuckle. I guess the US was expecting to use the new tunnels
to move missiles around Poland:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUWlipbHHPfw

It appear the Poles don't get the newsfeed out of Georgia
about how cozying up to a NATO member can get you in deep kimchi.

 

[Richard The Dreaded Libertarian]

It also has the advantage of giving Russia a simple choice. Spend
huge amount of money building up their missile defenses (again), or
sign a disarmament treaty with the US and its neighbors. Nothing
precipitates a negotiated settlement better than a potential military
crisis and associated military spending binge. We can afford it.
Russia cannot.

I wonder howcome nobody's bitching about the US invasion of Iraq and
Afghanistan.

"Liberal" media? ?:-/

Thanks,
Rich

 

[JeffM]

PATRIOT = Protection Against Threats, Real, Imagined, Or Theorized

Is a re-purposed anti-aircraft missile.
It may provide some limited protection against slower missiles.
But even then, it didn't do as well as advertised against Iraqi Scuds in Israel.

The stats for the Middle East was IIRC:
44 delivery vehicle interceptions with ZERO warheads destroyed.
All warheads impacted Allied territory, still at full leathality
and pretty close to where they would have hit anyway.
It was all theatre.

 

[terryc]

But then I suppose this doesn't stop the salesmen from selling them. If
it turns out they don't work, who is going to ask for their money back?

That is if they get to launch them before the first strike to knock them
out reaches them.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Caveat Emptor. I'm sure the Polish know about the Patriot missile
systems batting average. My guess(tm) is that Poland and others are
not so much interested in an anti-missile defense as in a manned
assault by Russian troop carrying helicopters and transport. Russia
would be nuts to devastate Poland, Austria, Turkey and others with a
missle attack. More likely, they'll do a repeate performance of what
they're doing to their own dissident provinces.

Yes. If it's a serious threat to the Russians, then the logical
response would be to Osirak the installation before its comissioned.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[z]

3 recent (civil) engineering screwups in Poland
that are even funnier because they're true:http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=8072

must have had l.g. defelice from north haven, CT as their contractor

"Hundreds of storm drains on 3 ½ miles of the highway are defective,
according to state and federal investigators. The portion of the
highway affected by the faulty drains is part of the I-84 project,
between 691 and exit 25A .
Officials said some of the catch basins lead to nowhere, others are
clogged with debris, and many were connected to faulty and substandard
pipes"
http://www.wfsb.com/traffic/9980013/detail.html

"Construction began in 2002 to widen a three and a half mile stretch
of highway.
In the spring of 2006, it was discovered that more than 200 drains had
not been installed properly or were defective.
...
This particular basin is 16 in. offset from where it's supposed to be.
You can see from the shadow but the opening is here somewhere.
Essentially cascading toward the road."
http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/captions/cr/cr_7-9-07.txt

and the punch line:
"L.G. DeFelice reformed as Hallberg and was hired by U.S. Fidelity and
Guaranty Company to finish work on Route 7. "
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/state_capitol/hearing_on_interstate_84_conti.php

 

[JeffM]

[...]More likely, they'll do a repeate performance of what
they're doing to their own dissident provinces.

Yes. If it's a serious threat to the Russians, then the logical
response would be to Osirak the installation before its comissioned.

....after allowing them to pour large amounts of money into it
(as the Israelis did).

 

[JeffM]

A bit more detail on the train tunnel problem:
http://www.railwaymarket.eu/5167/Poland+Railway+tunnel+too+small+for+trains.htm

The existing (badly rusted) 16" steel plate
can't be removed without everything falling apart.
The layer of concrete they had to lay to reinforce the bed
will not allow them to run the non-standard rolling stock
(which already has special dispensation throughout the system).

If they dig upward, they bump into a highway roadbed;
if they dig down, they hit sewer.
What a pickle.

 

[JosephKK]

3 recent (civil) engineering screwups in Poland
that are even funnier because they're true:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=8072

And at my workplace hardly a week goes by that i do not pound my
pulpit that the best de fence against engineering errors is reviews by
many others.

 

[JosephKK]

Well of course. Near as I can guess(tm), the Patriot missile system
salesmen are very active on the Russian border. For example, Turkey:
<http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Turkey_Set_To_Create_Missile_Shield_In_Ankara_Istanbul_999.html>
Same with Austria, Czech Republic, etc. $1 billion per country. Good
for USA business.

It also has the advantage of giving Russia a simple choice. Spend
huge amount of money building up their missile defenses (again), or
sign a disarmament treaty with the US and its neighbors. Nothing
precipitates a negotiated settlement better than a potential military
crisis and associated military spending binge. We can afford it.
Russia cannot.

That will not mean all that much, Russia is culturally paranoid.
Remember Reagan's star wars thing? It worked because it crashed the
Soviet economy. Do we really want that kind of military build up
again?

 

[JosephKK]

The stats for the Middle East was IIRC:
44 delivery vehicle interceptions with ZERO warheads destroyed.
All warheads impacted Allied territory, still at full leathality
and pretty close to where they would have hit anyway.
It was all theatre.

Why spout when you can look it up?

 

[JosephKK]

I like that. The real acronym is:
"Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept Of Target"
No missile system or product can be considered successful without a
catchy acronym, or clever name. I've heard it called "Pat's Riot" or
"Parts Riot".


The Wikipedia article covers the accuracy issues. Not great accuracy
(or success rate), but good enough for Poland if used in quantity.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot#Success_rate_vs._accuracy>

I can add a few comical anecdotes and details as to what happened in
Israel, but I would rather not get into that discussion. Let's just
say that there were some major screwups.


Caveat Emptor. I'm sure the Polish know about the Patriot missile
systems batting average. My guess(tm) is that Poland and others are
not so much interested in an anti-missile defense as in a manned
assault by Russian troop carrying helicopters and transport. Russia
would be nuts to devastate Poland, Austria, Turkey and others with a
missle attack. More likely, they'll do a repeate performance of what
they're doing to their own dissident provinces.

Or we will see a repeat of Old soviet Georgia separatists.

 

[Eeyore]

3 recent (civil) engineering screwups in Poland
that are even funnier because they're true:
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=8072

Question is .... did they have MBAs ?

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

Well of course. Near as I can guess(tm), the Patriot missile system
salesmen are very active on the Russian border. For example, Turkey:
<http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Turkey_Set_To_Create_Missile_Shield_In_Ankara_Istanbul_999.html>
Same with Austria, Czech Republic, etc. $1 billion per country. Good
for USA business.

It also has the advantage of giving Russia a simple choice. Spend
huge amount of money building up their missile defenses (again), or
sign a disarmament treaty with the US and its neighbors. Nothing
precipitates a negotiated settlement better than a potential military
crisis and associated military spending binge. We can afford it.
Russia cannot.

You'd have thought they might have learnt that lesson a couple of decades ago.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

I wonder howcome nobody's bitching about the US invasion of Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Who says no-one's bitching ? Esp w.r.t Iraq

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

The stats for the Middle East was IIRC:
44 delivery vehicle interceptions with ZERO warheads destroyed.
All warheads impacted Allied territory, still at full leathality
and pretty close to where they would have hit anyway.
It was all theatre.

Great TV though.

Graham